Aug. 7, 2008
2008 Volleyball Schedule
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 2008 South Carolina volleyball team will face one of the more difficult schedules in the nation this season, as head coach Ben Somera announced the slate for the upcoming season on Thursday.
The Gamecocks, 14-15 last season, return six starters and 10 letterwinners from a squad that finished out the year with a win over NCAA Tournament team Alabama. The team will be challenged in 2008, as 14 of the team’s 29 matches come against participants in last year’s national championship tournament. Carolina will also be featured on television twice during the season, including one match showing live on the SEC-TV package.
The season starts out in the desert at the Arizona State Sheraton Classic on Aug. 29-30. The Gamecocks and Sun Devils get things underway at 3 p.m. ET before Carolina faces defending Atlantic-10 champion Dayton in the nightcap on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. Saturday’s contest pits the Garnet and Black in a 2 p.m. ET contest against reigning Mountain West champ UNLV.
The road non-conference portion of the schedule wraps up at the Ram Classic Invitational in Kingston, R.I. South Carolina faces Atlantic Coast Conference member Boston College for the second-straight year prior to battling host Rhode Island on Fri., Sept. 5. In the final match of the tournament, the Gamecocks face off against America East regular-season champ Stony Brook.
The Garnet and Black then return home to host the Carolina Challenge, which will feature four in-state squads. Friday morning’s session starts at 10 a.m. when South Carolina faces the College of Charleston. Friday night’s session will be shown live on South Carolina ETV, with the early match pitting the Cougars against Winthrop at 5 p.m. The Gamecocks end the day’s action at 7 p.m. with the 54th meeting on the hardwood between Clemson and Carolina. Saturday’s matches begin at 10 a.m. when the Eagles and Gamecocks clash.
Carolina opens the double round-robin Southeastern Conference schedule on Fri., Sept. 19 at home against LSU, an NCAA Tournament team in 2007. The Georgia Bulldogs come in on Sunday to close out the home stand. The Gamecocks then hit the road for two straight weekends before hosting Tennessee and Kentucky over Oct. 10-12.
Another four-match road trip comes before the Gamecocks wrap up the league slate with six of the final eight matches at home. Arkansas and Mississippi come in for matches on Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, respectively, ahead of Auburn’s trip to Columbia on Nov. 7. The Gamecocks return to television during their last road trip of the regular season on Sun., Nov. 16 at Tennessee, as the match will be shown on FOX Sports Net in the southeast at 3:30 p.m. ET. Carolina closes the regular season with three home contests against Alabama, Mississippi State and Florida. The season’s final match against the Gators is on Thanksgiving Eve at 7 p.m.
