Head volleyball coach Suzie Fritz has done it again. In a bold move to showcase her rising volleyball team, Fritz loaded the schedule for next year with the who's who of the best teams.
On Wednesday, the K-State volleyball team released its 2010-11 schedule, which is packed full of top-ranked teams and formidable opponents, including nine from the 2009 American Volleyball Coaches Association's final coach's poll and 11 that went to the Big Dance.
The season opens with a tournament in the deceptively beautiful state of Hawaii, where the Wildcats will battle No. 14 UCLA at the Hawaii Chevron Classic for the season opener. The tournament also includes matchups against No. 3 Hawaii – which went to the Final Four last year – and San Diego, the first unranked team of the season.
Starting with the home opener against South Dakota – which K-State downed in four games last year – the Wildcats will play four matches in four days, with the annual Varney's Kansas State Invitational dominating the weekend. The schedule remains unforgiving the following weekend, K-State will travel east for the Kentucky Invitational, a series highlighted by the final game against the host, No. 12 Kentucky, who went to the Elite Eight last year.
Even the conference opener has high stakes; K-State will face off against state-rival Kansas – which swept the Wildcats twice last year – to commence an arduous two-month stretch of top-tier teams. Among the noteworthy conference teams the Wildcats will face include No. 2 Texas, which lost in the national championship, and No. 5 Nebraska, a quarter finalist.
The Wildcats' opening match against the Bruins is set for Aug. 27.
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