June 11, 2015

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball program announced its 2015 schedule on Thursday, which features eight matches against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago and a trip into Big Ten territory.

The Gamecocks will play 31 matches in all, with 16 being at home. Carolina drew a record number of fans to its home matches in 2014, setting Carolina Volleyball Center highs for total attendance (18,581) and average attendance (1,239).

“The 2015 schedule is our most challenging since we started to rebuild this program in 2011,” South Carolina head coach Scott Swanson said. “Our confidence in the experienced junior and senior classes that have given us so much effort and dedication the past several years led us to believe we should schedule tougher this season. We are excited to see how this team steps up to the challenge!”

Carolina has four tournaments scheduled prior to the beginning of SEC play for the third-straight year. The Gamecocks host the Gamecock Invitational to open their 2015 schedule and will face Southeastern Louisiana on Aug. 28 and North Carolina Central and North Carolina State on Aug. 29.

The following week Carolina will hit the road for the first time to play in the Furman Invitational in Greenville, S.C. The Gamecocks are slated to face rival Clemson on Sept. 4 and will wrap up the tournament on Sept. 5 with matches against Winthrop and Furman.

The Gamecocks will then venture into Big Ten territory for the Michigan Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich., with matches scheduled against Pittsburgh (Sept. 11), Western Michigan (Sept. 11) and Michigan (Sept. 12). The Broncos won the MAC Tournament title last season to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In its final tournament prior to SEC play, Carolina is set to host the Carolina Classic at the CVC. The Gamecocks will take on East Carolina on Sept. 18 and Charleston Southern and Wofford on Sept. 19.

Carolina hosts Coastal Carolina, a NCAA Tournament participant a year ago, on Sept. 22 at the CVC in its final nonconference match of the season.

The Gamecocks open their SEC slate with back-to-back matches against teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament field. Carolina will face Kentucky at home on Sept. 25 before going on the road to take on LSU to begin a three-match road swing. The Gamecocks will then head to Mississippi to play Ole Miss on Oct. 2 and Mississippi State on Oct. 4.

Carolina returns home to host Auburn on Oct. 9 and Texas A&M on Oct. 11 and will then head back on the road for matches at Georgia (Oct. 14) and at Tennessee (Oct. 18).

After hosting Arkansas on Oct. 25, the Gamecocks will welcome Florida to Columbia on Oct. 30 for the teams’ only matchup of the season. The Gators, who are the defending SEC champions, advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA Championship.

Ole Miss will visit the CVC for a match on Nov. 1 before the Gamecocks make a trip through Alabama to face Auburn on Nov. 6 and Alabama on No. 8. The Crimson Tide advanced to the round of 32 in last year’s NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks close out their home schedule with three-straight matches at the CVC, with matchups against Tennessee (Nov. 11), Mississippi State (Nov. 20) and Alabama (Nov. 22).

Carolina will wrap up the regular season on the road during the week of Thanksgiving, with matches at Arkansas on Nov. 25 and at Missouri on Nov. 27.

The SEC Network will carry a full slate of SEC volleyball matches again this season on the linear network as well as the digital platform. The schedule for those matches will be released at a later date.