May 15, 2008

2008 Schedule
Complete 2008 Schedule in PDF Format

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate volleyball team will begin its second season in Division I play on Aug. 29 when it plays the first of three matches at the Navy Trident Classic, the first of three tournaments that Upstate is going to play this season as well as a full 20-match Atlantic Sun Conference set.

Upstate will play at least 30 matches this season, including the Trident Classic, the USC Upstate Volleyball Classic and the NCAA Provisional Invitational Tournament. The Spartans will play Bryant on Friday, Aug. 29 at 4 p.m. before playing both St. Francis and Navy on Sunday, Aug. 31. During the off-day on Saturday, the Spartans will get to watch the Navy football team's home opener against Towson.

"We're looking forward to the Navy trip for many reasons," Upstate head coach Jennifer Calloway said. "That's our biggest trip. We are looking forward to that because it is an extended weekend. We'll be able to take the team to a football game. I think it will be a nice experience for everybody."

The Spartans return home for the USC Upstate Volleyball Classic on Sept. 5-6, playing host to Hampton at 1 p.m. and Wofford on Friday, Sept. 5 in the primetime 7 p.m. game. On Saturday, the Spartans host Radford at 2 p.m. and UNC Asheville in the primetime 7 p.m. game.

From there, the Spartans begin their 20-match A-Sun schedule, with home-and-home series against each of the 10 teams in the league. The A-Sun is made up of 11 schools in five different states (Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) and several major television markets (Nashville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Orlando). Upstate will host North Florida (Sept. 19), Jacksonville (Sept. 20), Kennesaw State (Oct. 4), Mercer (Oct. 5), Stetson (Oct. 24), FGCU (Oct. 25), Lipscomb (Nov. 7), Belmont (Nov. 8), ETSU (Nov. 11) and Campbell (Nov. 15). They take to the road for matches at ETSU (Sept. 9), Belmont (Sept. 12), Lipscomb (Sept. 13), FGCU (Sept. 26), Stetson (Sept. 27), Campbell (Oct. 9), Kennesaw State (Oct. 17), Mercer (Oct. 18), Jacksonville (Oct. 31) and North Florida (Nov. 1).

The Spartans will take on just two non-conference opponents with both Presbyterian (Sept. 23) and The Citadel (Oct. 21) visiting the Hodge Center.

The season will end the season with the NCAA Provisional Invitational Tournament at the Hodge Center, featuring six teams that are provisional members of the NCAA Division I and not yet eligible for postseason play. On Nov. 21, the six-team field will play two matches each in their bracket before the tournament play with seeds determined by the round robin play begins on Nov. 22.

"I let (Assistant Coach Joe) Bowman take the lead on that," Calloway said. "We threw around the idea and then we let Coach Bowman take the lead and put it together. There are so many teams that are in same situation as us, so we thought why couldn't we have our own little tournament? Everybody else is kind of in the same situation and everyone else is excited about the idea."

The 2007 Upstate volleyball season was a historic one for the program and 12th-year head coach Jennifer Calloway, as the Spartans entered Division I and the Atlantic Sun Conference. The team, despite battling injuries and the toughest schedule in school history, managed an 11-17 mark and a ninth-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Academically, the Spartans led all A-Sun volleyball programs with 12 All-Academic Team selections, as the team posted a 3.6 GPA during the fall and four players had a perfect 4.0 GPA in the fall.