Aug. 12, 2008

2008 George Mason Women's Volleyball Season Schedule

FAIRFAX, Va. - A strong out-of-conference schedule along with a two-day home tournament highlight the George Mason women's volleyball team's 2008 schedule, announced today. Mason will play 11 of its 27 matches this season at the Field House, returning to its temporary home while renovations and expansion of the Physical Education Building continue.

Head coach Pat Kendrick, now in her 24th season at the helm of the Patriots, believes that the challenging early season slate of matches will help prepare the team for conference play.

"We want to see what we have, since we have a lot of new players we want to see how everyone fits in before the conference schedule starts," Kendrick explained. "We've got good competition - the D.C. Challenge is always a good way to start the season, not only seeing what the local teams have but because the level of play is usually pretty good. In our tournament, we've got New Mexico coming who will be pretty strong and we've got a good mix of teams in our tournament. We are going down to Davidson and out to Indiana, which will be a real tough tournament. The conference has gotten stronger and we want to be in the mix."

Mason opens its season at home, hosting the first day of the annual D.C. Volleyball Challenge at the Field House. Following a match between American and George Washington at 5 p.m., the Patriots will start off their 2008 season at 7 p.m. against Georgetown. The Patriots then face the other two schools on Saturday at George Washington.

The Patriots return home for the annual Patriot Invitational, which will span 10 matches and two days this year. Scheduled for September 5 and 6, Mason will square off against St. Francis, Liberty and New Mexico over the two days, and Rutgers and La Salle will round out the strong field.

From there, the Patriots make the short trip to the nation's capital for a Wednesday matchup at Howard on September 12. Mason closes its non-conference schedule with back-to-back road tournaments. The Patriots will travel to Davidson (Sep. 12-13) and play Rutgers, Charlotte and the host Wildcats. A week later, Mason hits the road again as part of the Indiana Invitational (Sep. 19-20), where it will face the host Hoosiers, Cincinnati and Ball State.

The Patriots open Colonial Athletic Association play with a three-match homestand, beginning with a Saturday evening tilt against James Madison on Sep. 27, then hosts Hofstra and Northeastern the following weekend. Mason's first road CAA action of the year comes in a trip to Georgia State and UNC Wilmington on October 10 and 12, respectively.

Returning home to face Towson and Delaware on Oct. 17-18, Mason hits the road once again afterwards for a five-match road swing, where it will meet VCU (Oct. 24), William & Mary (Oct. 25), Northeastern (Oct. 31), Hofstra (Nov. 2) and James Madison (Nov. 8). Mason closes out the regular season on Senior Weekend (Nov. 14-15) with home matches against UNC Wilmington and Georgia State.

The 2008 CAA Championship will be contested from Nov. 21-23 at the overall highest seed's home court. Last season, the Patriots earned the No. 6 seed and fell to Hofstra in quarterfinal action at Viera Court in Newark, Del.

Tickets for all home matches are $5 for adults and $2 for youth and senior citizens, while Mason students receive free admission with their school ID. Tickets can be purchased at the Field House on the day of the match.