IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine women's volleyball unveiled its 2023 schedule featuring 13 home matches and the new Big West Championship.
 
The schedule includes six opponents that saw post-season play last season, four in the NCAA Tournament and two teams in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, including the 2022 Champions.
 
UCI will open the year hosting the annual UCI/adidas Invitational Aug. 25-27 at the Bren Events Center. UCI will start the tournament against New Mexico followed the next two days against Seton Hall and San Francisco, respectively.
 
The next three tournaments will be on the road, heading first to the Windy City Invitational, featuring host Chicago State, Southeast Missouri State and Cincinnati Aug. 31-Sept. 2 then in a quick turnaround, UCI returns home to entertain Boston College, who went 24-13 and ended the season as NIVC champions, on Sept. 3.
 
The Anteaters will be tested Sept. 6-8 at the Washington State Cougar Challenge, playing three NCAA participant teams, two ending the season in the AVCA Top 25 rankings. Up first, UCI takes on Washington State before battling BYU and Towson.
 
"This tournament features Top 30 teams and will be good for our players to see their level of attackers and physicality as we head into conference," head coach Ashlie Hain said.
 
The Big West/WAC Challenge will be held at Cal State Fullerton with the Anteaters and Titans taking on Cal Baptist and Grand Canyon Sept. 15-16.
 
The Big West schedule will have a new look in 2023, playing two fewer league matches and featuring a Championship tournament to end the year.
 
"It will be interesting with the new scheduling," Hain added. "I'm confident we can be in the top six and make it to the tournament and an opportunity to get an NCAA bid."
 
UCI will open the Big West schedule at home versus UC Riverside (Sept. 22) and UC Davis (Sept. 23) before spending the next four matches on the road at Cal Poly (Sept.29), UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 30), Cal State Fullerton (Oct. 3) and Hawaii (Oct. 7).
 
Five of the next six matches will be on Court 21, starting with CSU Bakersfield on Oct. 13, CSUN Oct. 14 and Long Beach State on Oct. 19. A trip to UC San Diego on Oct. 21, proceeds home matches versus Oct. 27 against UC Santa Barbara and Oct. 28 against Cal Poly.
 
The final month of the season starts at UC Davis (Nov. 2) and UC Riverside (Nov. 4). The final homestand is Nov. 9 against Cal State Fullerton and Nov. 10 versus Hawai'i. UCI closes out the regular season at CSUN (Nov. 17) and CSU Bakersfield (Nov. 18).
 
The inaugural Big West Championship starts on Nov. 22 and after a break for Thanksgiving continues Nov. 24-25 at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.

Tickets for the 2023 season will go on sale on July 11th.