Challenging Schedule Awaits Men's Volleyball In 2016
September 25, 2015 | Men's Volleyball
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IRVINE, Calif. – A schedule chock full of the nation's top teams awaits the UC Irvine men's volleyball team in 2016.
"This schedule is aggressive," fourth year head coach David Kniffin said. "I think we had the toughest schedule in the country last year and we are doing it again. We want to be tested. This program believes it's fun to compete against the best."
UCI opens the season hosting neighbor Concordia on Dec. 30 before heading to BYU for the AVCA Showcase. The Anteaters will tackle George Mason on Jan. 8 and defending champion Loyola-Chicago the following day from Smith Fieldhouse.
The Anteaters return home to open the always difficult Mountain Pacific Sports Federation schedule with UCLA on Jan. 15 and UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 16. After road contests at Pepperdine (Jan. 22) and Stanford (Jan. 23) UCI will take on BYU for a pair of matches Jan. 29 & 30.
The Anteaters continue the homestand entertaining Cal Baptist (Feb. 3) and USC (Feb. 5) before four straight on the road at UC Santa Barbara (Feb. 10), UCLA (Feb.12), CSUN (Feb. 17) and Long Beach State (Feb. 19). The month is capped off with home matches against Stanford (Feb. 26) and Pepperdine (Feb. 27).
Following a home and away contest with UC San Diego, a gauntlet of eight road tests faces the Anteaters in March. UCI will play seven matches in 16 days spanning five states. The difficult road swing starts locally at the Long Beach State Asics Tournament where the team will battle Ohio State (Mar. 11) and Lewis (Mar. 12) at the Pyramid.
UCI will then travel to Ball State (Mar. 19), Penn State (Mar. 21) and George Mason (Mar. 22) before heading back to MPSF play all the way across the country at Hawaii on Mar. 25 and 26.
Matches at Cal Baptist (Mar. 30) and USC (Apr. 2) complete the road slate. The Anteaters finally return home to cap the regular season, hosting CSUN on Apr. 7 and Long Beach State on Apr. 9 at the Bren Events Center.
The NCAA Championship returns to Penn State May 5 and 7. It is the 10-year anniversary of UCI's first NCAA appearance in 2006. The Anteaters lost to the Nittany Lions in semifinal action that year in the infamous "lights out" match.
The Anteaters are coming off its sixth NCAA appearance and a No. 3 final ranking. UCI was 28-5 overall a year ago and were the MPSF regular and tournament champions. The Anteaters return a strong core of talent headlined by first team All-American outside hitter Tamir Hershko and first team All-MPSF middle blocker Jason Agopian.
"This team needs to find its identity, but there is potential for greatness," the 2015 MPSF Coach of the Year said. "Players will have the opportunity to step up and prove themselves. I'm curious to see what we are known for."
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