Rice University set to host the season opening tournament – Volleyball News
Rice University women’s volleyball team is scheduled to open the 2012 regular season at home. The Rice University Invitational, which is set to take centre stage on Friday, will be featured as the first event of the year for Owls.
The Rice Owls will be joined by three visiting teams from Arkansas State, Brigham Young University (BYU), and Air Force. The season-opening tournament will cover its length from August 24-25, while the thrilling action will take place at the Tudor Fieldhouse.
The home team will be headed by experienced Head Coach Genny Volpe, who has high hopes for a good start to the regular season.
Speaking about the 2012 season, the Head Coach Volpe said: "This schedule provides us with many opportunities to get significant wins for NCAA tournament consideration and to elevate our national ranking.” She further added: "It is ideal in terms of opportunities
to compete against NCAA caliber teams. Not only are we playing in a very competitive C-USA league, but in the non-conference portion of the schedule we are competing against a variety of high quality opponents that have had tremendous success on the national
level - Washington, Purdue, LSU, BYU - it just doesn't get any better than that."
The Rice Invitational will feature a total of six games and each team will get to play three matches. Arkansas State and BYU will come into stride in the first match of the tournament on Friday. Likewise, the second match of day-1 will bring the hosts in
competition with visiting Air Force team.
Four matches will be played on Saturday. BYU will take on Air Force in the first fixture, while the Cougars will play their last match against hosts Rice Owls. Arkansas Team will follow the same pattern as it will play its first match against Owls and will
take on Air Force in the second fixture.
The Owls will have the competitive advantage of playing under familiar conditions. Moreover, they will be equipped with emotional support of local fans. Owls have a great opportunity to profit from these advantages and make a good start to the season. Check
back for more news and updates.
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