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The William and Mary volleyball team announced its 2012 fall competition schedule today, a challenging slate of 26 games including four opponents who reached last year's NCAA tournament. Head coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton '91 and her staff bring back all but two players from last year, in addition to a large recruiting class of seven athletes as the Tribe looks for its record ninth Colonial Athletic Association title.
W&M opens the season on the road at Duke, competing in the Duke Invitational Aug. 24-25. On Friday night, the Tribe will take on the host Blue Devils in historic Cameron Indoor Stadium, in the first meeting between the two schools since the 2001 NCAA Tournament. The second day of the tournament matches the College with UW-Milwaukee and Fairfield. The College will participate in one other away tournament, heading to New Hampshire for the Holly Young Invitational, September 7-8. While up in the Northeast the Tribe will face Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, and host New Hampshire.
W&M has the luxury of hosting two non-conference tournaments this fall. The first is the Tribe Invitational on Aug. 31-Sept. 1, and will include teams from Manhattan, Campbell, and Georgetown as well as the Tribe. There will be two matches on Friday night beginning at 4:30 p.m. and four on Saturday in Kaplan Arena starting at 10 a.m. The final in-season tournament will be the Tribe's second home event, the Colonial Challenge. Over Sept 14-15, W&M will face Elon, Howard, and Hampton in the round robin event.
“With the addition of seven new players to our team (as well as a roster of 18) it is important play enough to see what all of our athletes can do,” said Shelton. “I believe our tournament schedule will allow us to test all of our players while we develop as a unit. We should be more than ready for CAA play after the first four weeks of competition.”
New to the schedule this year are two mid-week contests with in-state foes. The first is on the road Tuesday, Aug. 28, with the Tribe heading to Lynchburg for a game with Liberty. The other mid-week game comes in the midst of the conference season, when the Tribe heads across the water to Norfolk State on Tuesday, Oct. 2, for a 6 p.m. skirmish with the Spartans.
With the departure of one school over the summer, the CAA schedule this fall drops down to 12 regular season games. Six of these will be on the road while the other six will be in Kaplan Arena. The Tribe takes on UNCW, Northeastern, Towson and Delaware twice this season, squaring off with each opponent at home and on the road. W&M faces GMU and JMU only in Williamsburg this fall, while it travels to Hofstra and GA State for the lone match-up with those schools.
The Colonial Athletic Association tournament will be held the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nov. 16-19, at the regular-season champions. The dates are dependent on court availability for the number one seed, and will encompass three days of play for the top-six teams from the regular season. The winner of the CAA title will earn an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament, which will begin the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us this fall. With the redistribution of the CAA schedule, I know we have a tough road ahead. However, the strong performances of our returning players in the spring combined with the talent of our incoming athletes gives us hope that we can make a major stride forward in our CAA ranking. The staff is looking forward to getting everyone in our gym and beginning this journey.”
W&M opens the season on the road at Duke, competing in the Duke Invitational Aug. 24-25. On Friday night, the Tribe will take on the host Blue Devils in historic Cameron Indoor Stadium, in the first meeting between the two schools since the 2001 NCAA Tournament. The second day of the tournament matches the College with UW-Milwaukee and Fairfield. The College will participate in one other away tournament, heading to New Hampshire for the Holly Young Invitational, September 7-8. While up in the Northeast the Tribe will face Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, and host New Hampshire.
W&M has the luxury of hosting two non-conference tournaments this fall. The first is the Tribe Invitational on Aug. 31-Sept. 1, and will include teams from Manhattan, Campbell, and Georgetown as well as the Tribe. There will be two matches on Friday night beginning at 4:30 p.m. and four on Saturday in Kaplan Arena starting at 10 a.m. The final in-season tournament will be the Tribe's second home event, the Colonial Challenge. Over Sept 14-15, W&M will face Elon, Howard, and Hampton in the round robin event.
“With the addition of seven new players to our team (as well as a roster of 18) it is important play enough to see what all of our athletes can do,” said Shelton. “I believe our tournament schedule will allow us to test all of our players while we develop as a unit. We should be more than ready for CAA play after the first four weeks of competition.”
New to the schedule this year are two mid-week contests with in-state foes. The first is on the road Tuesday, Aug. 28, with the Tribe heading to Lynchburg for a game with Liberty. The other mid-week game comes in the midst of the conference season, when the Tribe heads across the water to Norfolk State on Tuesday, Oct. 2, for a 6 p.m. skirmish with the Spartans.
With the departure of one school over the summer, the CAA schedule this fall drops down to 12 regular season games. Six of these will be on the road while the other six will be in Kaplan Arena. The Tribe takes on UNCW, Northeastern, Towson and Delaware twice this season, squaring off with each opponent at home and on the road. W&M faces GMU and JMU only in Williamsburg this fall, while it travels to Hofstra and GA State for the lone match-up with those schools.
The Colonial Athletic Association tournament will be held the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nov. 16-19, at the regular-season champions. The dates are dependent on court availability for the number one seed, and will encompass three days of play for the top-six teams from the regular season. The winner of the CAA title will earn an automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament, which will begin the weekend of Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
“We definitely have our work cut out for us this fall. With the redistribution of the CAA schedule, I know we have a tough road ahead. However, the strong performances of our returning players in the spring combined with the talent of our incoming athletes gives us hope that we can make a major stride forward in our CAA ranking. The staff is looking forward to getting everyone in our gym and beginning this journey.”
