The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Volleyball Announces 2008 Schedule
6/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
June 10, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The 2008 UAB volleyball schedule was released Tuesday and it includes seven matches against 2007 NCAA Division I Championship participants. The Blazers open their season at the Florida Gators Invitational on Aug. 29 and will host rival Memphis on Sept. 18 for the team's first home match of the season.
NCAA Championship participants appearing on UAB's schedule this season include Florida, Mississippi, Cleveland State, Alabama A&M, Tennessee State, Tulsa and Florida A&M.
"We're very pleased with the caliber of schedule we have put together for this season," said UAB head coach Kerry Messersmith. "We have increased our strength of schedule, as have many of the teams in the league, to appeal to the NCAA Championship selection committee. Conference USA volleyball is very strong and we believe that this schedule gives us an opportunity to showcase that."
UAB will play in four tournaments early in the season. At the Florida Gators Invitational Aug. 29-30, the Blazers will take on Florida and Western Michigan, the defending Mid-American Conference Western Division champ.
The Blazers will take part in the Jacksonville State Tournament Sept. 5-6 where they will take on Mississippi, Creighton and Jacksonville State.
Messersmith will then take her team to her native state of Wyoming to compete in the Wyoming Invitational Sept. 12-13 where it will play Cleveland State, Wyoming and Kansas.
The tournament portion of UAB's schedule culminates with the UAB/Samford Invitational Sept. 19-20 in Bartow Arena.
UAB's league and home opener will be against Memphis Sept. 18. The team will also host league matches with UTEP (Oct. 3), Tulane (Oct. 5), Tulsa (Oct. 17) SMU (Oct. 19), Southern Miss (Oct. 24), UCF (Oct. 26), East Carolina (Oct. 31) and Marshall (Nov. 2).
The Blazers will host non-conference matchups with Cincinnati (Nov. 28) and Florida A&M (Nov. 29).
Memphis will be the site of the 2008 Conference USA Tournament where the Blazers will look to make a third straight championship match appearance this season. UAB beat Memphis, 3-2, in the 2006 Conference USA Tournament final before losing by the same score to Tulsa in the 2007 championship match.
