May 26, 2011
2011 Notre Dame Volleyball Schedule
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame volleyball team will play host to two early season invitationals while traveling to Hawaii, California, New York and several states in between as part of its 2011 fall schedule which was recently released.
The departure of four seniors from a 2010 team that went 18-13 will be offset with the return of AVCA Northeast Freshman of the Year Andrea McHugh and a three-person, nationally ranked recruiting class as the Irish head into upcoming campaign.
Seven teams from the 2010 NCAA Tournament litter this season’s schedule, including Louisville, Cincinnati, Hawaii, Dayton, Lipscomb, Butler and national quarterfinalist Stanford.
Notre Dame will roll out the carpet for Eastern Michigan, Idaho and Butler for the season-opening Shamrock Invitational (Aug. 26-28) at Purcell Pavilion.
The first of two westward trips comes one week later at the Stanford Invitational (Sept. 2-3), where the Irish are slated to face the host Cardinal and St. Mary’s.
A second home tournament, the Golden Dome Invitational, will see Lipscomb, Portland and Valparaiso hit Notre Dame’s home floor from Sept. 9-11.
Before starting league play the Irish will travel to Wisconsin for the InnTower Invitational (Sept. 16-17) while facing the Badgers and Western Michigan.
Four straight home league matches features a lineup of Georgetown (Sept. 24), Villanova (Sept. 25), Cincinnati (Oct. 1) and defending BIG EAST Conference Tournament champions Louisville (Oct. 2).
That stretch comes before a five-match roadswing capped off with a double dip at Hawaii (Oct. 17-18).
The Irish will also play home matches against USF (Oct. 23), Seton Hall (Nov. 5) and Rutgers (Nov. 6).
The 2011 BIG EAST Tournament (Nov. 18-20) is set to take place in Milwaukee, Wis., on Marquette’s home floor.
Sandwiched between the BIG EAST and NCAA tournaments will be a Nov. 25 meeting at Dayton.
San Antonio’s Alamodome will be the final destination for the NCAA Championship (Dec. 15-17). Opening rounds of the tournament will be played at campus sites and predetermined regional institutions.
–ND–