May 15, 2006

Complete 2006 Schedule

ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio volleyball team's 2006 fall schedule features six teams, including defending national champion Washington, that finished the 2005 season ranked in the top 25.

The Bobcats will open the season Aug. 25-26 at the prestigious AVCA Volleyball Showcase to be held in Madison, Wis. Ohio will open the tournament, which will be televised on national television, against defending national champion Washington. The Bobcats will then move on to play either host Wisconsin, which finished 10th in the nation last year, or Texas, which finished 16th last year.

The tournament, which began in 1995, has a strong history of participants going on to high finishes in the NCAA Tournament. In its 11 years of existence, two showcase champions have gone on to win the NCAA Championship, four finished national runner-up, four have gone on to the Final Four and one reached the Sweet 16.

"The showcase is the premier volleyball event," head coach Geoff Carlston said. "It is a big honor for us to be one of the four teams invited. The school, the athletic department and the volleyball program will all benefit from the exposure that comes with being a part of this tournament."

Participating in the AVCA Showcase means Ohio will not be hosting a tournament in 2006. Carlston does not see this as a slight to the program or that teams are not willing to come to Athens but more as an opportunity that could not be passed up.

"When the AVCA Showcase offered us a spot, that is an opportunity that we can't turn down," Carlston said. "As much as we would like to be home, we had to play in this tournament."

Ohio will compete in the Davidson Tournament the following weekend. The Bobcats open the tourney versus Davidson and will also go up against Portland and Liberty.

The Bobcats will then travel to play in the Stony Brook Tournament. Ohio will battle Maryland, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference last year, and Stony Brook the opening day and will conclude the tournament against Yale.

Ohio finishes up its pre-conference schedule with a trip to the San Diego Tournament. The tourney field includes Brown, Santa Barbara, which received votes in the final poll, and host San Diego, which finished 2005 ranked 22nd in the nation.

"We put together a very tough non-conference schedule, probably one of the toughest in the country," Carlston said. "We do that with an eye toward building a strong RPI and putting us through the rigors of a very difficult non-conference schedule."

The Bobcats will open the conference schedule and put their 43-match winning streak against MAC foes on the line Sept. 22 when they play Akron on the road. The MAC Tournament will be held Nov. 17-19 at the Seagate Center in Toledo.

"The MAC this year, like it is every year, has a lot of parity," Carlston said. "It is a very tough conference and every match is a battle. There is no team in this conference that you can walk in against and play at 80 percent because if you do you are going to lose."

Ohio will look to extend its 37-match home winning streak Sept. 29 against Kent State in the home opener.

"The eight matches we have at home are going to be huge," Carlston said. "We have to take care of business at home and fortunately we have been able to do that."

Following the conclusion of the conference tourney, the Bobcats will compete in a triangular against Louisville and Notre Dame. Both Louisville and Notre Dame spent much of the 2005 season ranked in the top 10 with the Cardinals finishing 11th and the Fighting Irish 12th.

"This tournament gives us one more shot to either improve our seed in the NCAA Tournament or make an argument for an at-large bid," Carlston said. "So those are going to be two very important matches and hopefully it will give us momentum going into the NCAA Tournament."

The Bobcats return AVCA All-Mideast Region honorable mention selections Savanah Parra (Temecula, Calif.) and Stephanie Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio) from last year's squad that finished 14th in the nation after advancing to the Sweet 16. Ohio also brings back All-MAC performers Melissa Griffin (Whitehall, Mich.) and Amanda Andersen (Lino Lakes, Minn.) as well as all-time digs leader Michaele Blackburn (Cincinnati, Ohio).