Tomic unveils 2011 volleyball slate

Head Coach Danijela Tomic announced on July 8 the 2011 volleyball schedule, a competitive slate which includes 10 home matches and an opportunity to host the Sun Belt Conference Championship in the friendly confines of the U.S. Century Bank Arena. In addition, FIU will play eight matches against six NCAA Tournament squads from a season ago, including 2010 Final Four participant California.

Photo by Samuel Lewis

Prior to the start of regular season tournaments, FIU will play the first annual Blue & Gold Match on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at a time to be determined. Stay tuned to www.FIUSports.com for more information.

The official start to the 2011 campaign will come at the Cal Molten Classic held Aug. 26-27, in Berkeley, Calif., as the Panthers go up against Fairfield in the season-opener before taking on UC-Riverside and host California.

FIU continues tournament play the following weekend, Sept. 2-4, at the Blue Raider Bash in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where the Panthers will face stiff competition, playing three matches in two days versus 2010 NCAA Tournament squads (Austin Peay, Auburn and Missouri), as well as East Tennessee State.

FIU will host Tulane in its home-opener on Sept. 9 and the Panthers remain at home that weekend for a match versus Florida A&M on Sept. 11. The Panthers will wrap up their tournament schedule in Orlando, Fla., at the Towne Place Suites/UCF Challenge (Sept. 16-17) with matches against Jacksonville and UCF or UTEP, before beginning SBC play on the road at North Texas (Sept. 23) and Denver (Sept. 25).

Conference play continues the following weekend, as FIU returns home to host 2010 NCAA Tournament participant WKU and reigning SBC Champion Middle Tennessee, on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, respectively. FIU will then travel to Boca Raton, Fla., to face SBC and local rival Florida Atlantic on Oct. 7 before taking on rivals WKU (Oct. 14 in Bowling Green, Ky.) and MT (Oct. 16 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.) for the second time in three weeks.

FIU will kick off a five-match home swing on Oct. 21 and Oct. 23 with SBC matches against Arkansas State and UALR, respectively. The Panthers’ second contest with FAU will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 26, while Troy (Oct. 28) and South Alabama (Oct. 30) are set to visit the U.S. Century Bank Arena that weekend.

The Panthers will then travel to Louisiana for league matchups with ULM (Nov. 4 in Monroe, La.) and UL (Nov. 6 in Lafayette, La.) before wrapping up the regular season home schedule and non-conference slate versus intra-state rival FGCU on Nov. 8. FIU will close out the regular season on the road with re-matches against South Alabama and Troy, on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12, respectively.

FIU will host the 2011 SBC Championship at the U.S. Century Bank Arena on Nov. 17-19 in Miami, Fla. The 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship will get underway on Dec. 1-4 with regional competition set to take place on Dec. 8-11 at campus sites to be determined. The Final Four is slated for Dec. 15 & 17 and will be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

— Courtesy of FIUSports.com