2012 South Alabama Volleyball Schedule (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – With 15 of its first 16 matches away from Mobile this fall, the University of South Alabama volleyball team will certainly be road-tested in the schedule released by head coach Amy Hendrichovsky on Tuesday.    

“When creating the schedule, my focus for the preseason tournaments was finding teams that would not only challenge us, but also give us an opportunity to compete and build confidence,” Hendichovsky said.  “Our team has to be pushed and the opponents we have on the schedule will definitely do that.  We will learn right away what we need to work on and what we are excelling in.  Therefore, we are prepared to compete with every team in the Sun Belt Conference.  If we do that we will in turn have the results we are looking for.”  

Of Jags’ 30 matches (15 non-conference and 15 Sun Belt) this season, only 10 are slated for Jag Gym.  This year’s schedule will mark the first time since 2003 that USA has not hosted a home tournament.

The first-year Jaguar head coach is hoping that with all the early road tests the blend of new and old talent - eight returnees and nine newcomers - will come together and lay the foundation for the program.

“This fall, we will need contributions from everyone on our team,” Hendrichovsky said.  “Whether it be in a match or in practice, all 17 student-athletes are vital to our success and an important part to building a tradition.  Having a common goal and working together to meet that goal will bring our team together.”  

“As a program, we have been working on building a fearless mentality towards this fall’s schedule.  The team is very excited about the possibilities in front of them.  I wouldn't say we have any certain matches we are targeting but I do feel the girls will be ready to create their own highlights throughout the season.”  

This season will also mark the first meetings between the Jaguars and five opponents – Central Arkansas, Southern Illinois, St. Louis, Savannah State and Wisconsin – as well as matches against four NCAA tournament squads.

South Alabama opens the campaign with the first of four non-conference tournaments on Aug. 23-24, when the Jags travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., to compete at the Southern Miss Invitational.  USA will begin the two-day tournament versus Central Arkansas (Aug. 23) – which won its fourth-consecutive Southland Conference East Division title and advanced to the league tournament semifinals last season.  Following the match versus the Sugar Bears, the Jaguars will face a couple of future Conference USA foes in Southern Miss (Aug. 23) and Louisiana Tech (Aug. 24).  The Lady Techsters will make the move from the Western Athletic Conference to CUSA following this season.  South Alabama also opened the 2010 campaign at the Southern Miss Invitational.

The Jaguars will travel the following weekend to participate at the Billiken Invitational where they will take on Southern Illinois on Aug. 30.  Jaguar volleyball assistant coach Shawn Taylor will see a familiar face on the opposite bench, as the Salukis are coached by Justin Ingram, who arrives at SIU this season after spending the previous three seasons at Sun Belt Conference member Arkansas State. While at ASU, Ingram captured a pair of West Division titles and compiled a 60-33 record. Taylor was an assistant for Ingram for the last two seasons before coming to USA.

South Alabama will also face Valparaiso and tournament-host St. Louis on the following day (Sept. 1).  The meeting with Valparaiso will be the first time USA has faced the Crusaders of the Horizon League since the 1988 season when the Jags faced them at the Memphis Invitational in Memphis, Tenn.  Valparaiso ended the 2011 campaign with 20 wins.

USA takes a break from tournament action on Sept. 4, when the Jags host Nicholls State for a midweek tilt, its only home match before the start of conference play.  The Colonels finished last season with 18 wins – the most by a NSU team since 2002.  The Colonels will be led the season by first-year head coach Patrick Hiltiz, who comes to Thibodaux after spending last year as an assistant at fellow Sun Belt member, Louisiana-Monroe.

The Jaguars then step back into non-conference tournament play when they head to Atlanta, Ga., during the third weekend of the season, taking on Mercer on Sept. 7 and Samford and Georgia State on Sept. 8 at the Georgia State Invitational.  The Bulldogs are coming off a stellar season in which they finished with a 29-5 record, earned a berth in the NCAA tournament and captured both the Southern Conference North Division and tournament titles.  The 29 wins were a school-record and the NCAA tournament appearance marked the first for the program.

The meeting versus Georgia State will not only mark the first meeting with the Panthers since 2002, but also be a meeting versus a future Sun Belt opponent as GSU is scheduled to join the league in the summer of 2013.

Following the Panther tournament, USA will compete for the second-straight week in Georgia when it closes out its non-conference tournament schedule at the Springhill Suites Invitational, hosted by Georgia Southern.  The appearance in the Eagle tournament will mark the second in the last three seasons as the Jags also participated there in 2010.  South Alabama will begin the tourney with single matches on the first two days – vs. Georgia Southern (Sept. 13) and vs. Jacksonville (Sept. 14) and then close out play with a pair on Sept. 15 when it takes on Savannah State and Big 10 member Wisconsin.  

South Alabama is thrown into the fire right out of the gate in conference play as the Jaguars open up with road contest at Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky – both of which made the NCAA tournament a season ago.  The SBC opener will be a home coming for South Alabama’s new head coach as she returns to Murfreesboro, where she was an assistant for the past six years for the Blue Raiders.  MT finished last season with 21 wins – its seventh-consecutive season with 20 or more wins.  The Lady Toppers captured both the regular-season East Division and tournament titles after finishing with a 31-4 overall mark and a 15-1 record in the league.  WKU also ended the season ranked just outside the top 25 AVCA Coaches’ Poll.

USA closes out September with a pair of home matches against Florida Atlantic (Sept. 28) and Florida International (Sept. 30).  Like MTSU and WKU, FIU also ended last season with 20 wins.

USA begins the month of October away from home again with matches at UALR (Oct. 5) and at Arkansas State (Oct. 7).  The Red Wolves went 21-10 a year ago, and captured the West Division title for the third-straight year, clinching title outright for the first time since 1998.  ASU was 8-0 at home last season – the first time since the 2004 season that the Red Wolves have done so – and lost just four sets at the Convocation Center in 2011.

After the Jaguars return from the Arkansas swing, USA will finally have a significant home-stretch on its schedule.  Beginning with its match with Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 12, South Alabama will have a stretch in which seven of its next eight matches are at Jag Gym – North Texas (Oct. 13), Louisiana-Lafayette (Oct. 21), Jackson State (Oct. 24), Troy (Oct. 27), Middle Tennessee (Nov. 2) and Western Kentucky (Nov. 4).  The midweek contest versus JSU – which won the SWAC championship – will mark the fourth NCAA tournament team on the 2012 schedule for USA.

The lone match away from Mobile during the eight-match stretch will be at in-state rival Troy on Oct. 18.

USA will close out the regular season on the road at Florida Atlantic (Nov. 9) and at Florida International (Nov. 10).  

This year’s conference tournament is scheduled to be held in Bowling Green, Ky., on Nov. 15-17 at E.A. Diddle Arena.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

-- USA --