The Seattle University volleyball team will open the 2009 season by co-hosting a tournament with national power Washington and will face six teams that appeared in the 2008 NCAA Division I Tournament, as sixth-year head coach Shannon Ellis released the 2009 schedule Monday.
Seattle University begins the 2009 season with a match against San Diego State at the Connolly Center Friday, Aug. 28, beginning at 7 p.m., while Washington will be hosting San Jose State at Bank of America Arena at the same time. On Saturday, Aug. 29, SeattleU welcomes the Huskies to the Connolly Center for an 11 a.m. match, followed by a neutral site match between San Jose State and San Diego State at 1 p.m. At 7 p.m. that night, San Jose State stays at the Connolly Center to face SeattleU, and San Diego State heads to Bank of America Arena to take on Washington.
The team starts a three-week road trip at Oregon on Sept. 4, followed by matches against Wisconsin, Oregon State, and Cal State Fullerton as part of the Corvallis Invitational on Sept. 5-6. The program will spend about ten days in California, participating in the Pepperdine Asics Classic along with Pepperdine, UC Riverside, and Army on Sept. 11-13. After a quick trip to face San Diego on Sept. 15, SeattleU heads to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for the Mission Inn of Pismo Beach Invitational, taking on Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, and Santa Clara on Sept. 18-19.
The Redhawks return home to face North Dakota on Sept. 22, and then head to the Dakotas for road matches at South Dakota (Sept. 25) and North Dakota (Sept. 26). After a quick trip south to face Portland on Sept. 30, the team welcomes Trinity Western (Oct. 1) and Portland State (Oct. 7) to the Connolly Center for the only home matches in October.
Back on the road, Seattle University faces UNLV on Oct. 10, followed by a trip the next weekend to take on Idaho State (Oct. 16) and Weber State (Oct. 17). The team takes a week off before a quick trip east to face Montana State on Oct. 26 and then heads back to California, first to face Cal State Bakersfield on back-to-back days (Nov. 1-2) before finishing the road portion of the schedule at UC Irvine on Nov. 3. The team hosts Saint Martin’s in the season finale on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Seattle University returns ten players from the 2008 squad that faced seven schools that reached the 2008 NCAA Division I Tournament and earned wins over Boise State, Idaho, and Pennsylvania as well as the Dig For The Cure Classic in only its first year of playing at the Division I level. Live stats will be available for all home matches on www.GoSeattleU.com.