2016 Volleyball Schedule
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State has finalized its 2016 volleyball schedule, which includes 16 home matches.
The 30-match regular season slate begins on Friday, Aug. 26 at the Bulldog Battle in Charleston, S.C., when the Eagles open against Robert Morris, a 2015 NCAA Tournament team.
“We’re really excited about our schedule this season. We will face a wide variety of programs that will help prepare us for OVC play,” said head coach Jaime Gordon. “We have some great teams coming to Morehead, as well. We always look forward to having great competition for our fans and the community, who have been incredibly supportive of us.”
Following the Bulldog Battle, where the Eagles will also face host The Citadel and Loyola, they will travel to Charleston, W. Va. to participate in the WV Capitol Classic against Marshall, Indiana State, and host West Virginia.
Morehead State opens its home schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 6against Wright State prior to hosting the Eagle Challenge (Appalachian State, Ball State, Northern Kentucky) on Sept. 9-10and the Comfort Inn-vitational (Coppin State, Kent State, Montana) on Sept. 16-17.
Conference play opens at Jacksonville State on Friday, Sept. 23. Their first conference home match will be Saturday, Oct. 1 vs. Murray State and that begins a stretch from Oct. 1 to Nov. 2 when nine of their 11 matches will be at home. During that stretch, they will also host defending OVC Champion Belmont, Tennessee State, UT Martin, SEMO, non-conference foe and 2015 NCAA Tournament team Dayton, Tennessee Tech, Jacksonville State, and Eastern Kentucky.
The Eagles return four seniors, including Bailey Nichol, Hope Rillema, Stacy Silver, and Sydney Schuler, along with reigning OVC Freshman of the Year Merideth Jewell. Jewell recorded a team-high 462 kills, which ranked second in the conference and 19th in the country, during her freshman campaign.
“We’re excited about the youth of our team, but we’re really going to rely on the experience of our senior class,” said Gordon.
The OVC Tournament will be hosted by the regular-season champion during a three-day window Nov. 17-19.