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XU05and07
05-15-2008, 05:35 PM
Volleyball Schedule (http://goxavier.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/sched/xavi-w-volley-sched.html)

CINCINNATI - After earning its first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large bid in 2007, the 2008 edition of the Xavier Musketeer volleyball team will have a tough schedule ahead of them in the upcoming season. The Musketeers will face three teams that qualified for last year's national tournament, including Middle Tennessee State which ended the season ranked No. 15 in the nation, and will have 10 home matches in the coming year.

"It was tough to get people on our schedule this year, tough to get home matches," commented head coach Floyd Deaton. "Cintas Center is a tough place to play and the teams we have coming in here to play, for example Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State and Tulane, are good teams. They are quality teams that have had a lot of success."

The XU netters will open the 2008 campaign in Columbus, Ohio as Xavier begins play at Ohio State's Sports Imports Classis Aug. 29-31. The weekend includes contests against Toledo, Youngstown State and host Ohio State.

"I think it is one of the toughest schedules that we have played in that we are also playing Georgia Tech, Arkansas, Ohio State and Youngstown State is much improved," said Deaton. "Toledo is going to be a lot better than they were this past season. It is a tough non-conference schedule."

The following weekend, Xavier will head down to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech Regency Suites Classic which will be held Sept. 5-6. The Musketeers will face Georgia State on Friday and then play Arkansas and host Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Xavier will return to Cincinnati to make its home court debut on September 9 as the Musketeers welcome the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to Cintas Center. XU will look to extend its five-year home opener winning steak against the Lady Toppers who went 27-9 last season after losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Musketeers currently have an open weekend Sept. 12-14 and are currently trying to fill the open dates.

XU will play two more at home, Sept. 19-20, versus MTSU and Tulane before heading to Stony Brook, N.Y., to participate in Stony Brook's Holiday Inn Express Tournament. XU will play host Stony Brook, followed by matches versus Saint Francis (Pa.) and Brown.

On October 3, Xavier opens the Atlantic 10 portion of its schedule with a trip to Charlotte followed by a match at George Washington. The following weekend, XU welcomes La Salle and Temple to Cintas Center.

"Our conference schedule is going to be better because the conference is getting better," Deaton said. "The job that the coaches are doing at La Salle and Fordham has greatly improved those programs. It's a tough schedule. It's laid out for us to get better, obviously we are going to have some young kids in there playing but I think it is a competitive schedule."

The conference portion of the schedule will match Xavier with each team in the Atlantic 10 West Division in a home and home series, while the Musketeers will face each team in the East Division only once. This year XU will have a home and away match with Dayton, Duquesne, Saint Louis and Rhode Island, while traveling to Charlotte and George Washington and hosting Fordham, La Salle and Temple.

There is one other non-conference match mixed into the A-10 schedule as Xavier will travel to Fort Wayne, Ind., on Oct. 14 to take on the Mastodons of IPFW.

The conference schedule will culminate in the Atlantic 10 Championship which will be held in Saint Louis, Mo., on November 21-23. The field will include six qualifying teams as the top two teams in each division will earn an automatic bid to the championship and a first-round bye with the next four best overall records from either division grabbing the final spots in the tournament. The winner of the championship will earn the Atlantic 10's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.