 Nine NCAA Tourney Teams Highlight 2009 Volleyball Slate
June 4, 2009 2009 Billiken Volleyball Schedule ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis head volleyball coach Anne Kordes will continue to test her team's mettle against the top talent in the country in 2009 as the defending Atlantic 10 Conference champions face nine teams that competed in last season's NCAA Tournament. "I am extremely excited about the challenge that this schedule is going to bring to our team both at home and on the road," said Kordes, the 2008 AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) Northeast Region and CVU.com National Coach of the Year. "In putting together this year's schedule, we continued with the philosophy of playing the best in order to be the best. We have one of the strongest preseason schedules in the country, if not the strongest. We are looking for this schedule to prepare us for the A-10 season and to put us in a position to compete with the best teams in the country in the NCAA Tournament." The Billikens kick off the season with the first of two home tournaments, the Active Ankle Challenge, which will be played at Chaifetz Arena. SLU faces Alabama in the season opener Aug. 28, at 7 p.m. The next day, the Bills face 2008 NCAA Tournament qualifier Miami (Ohio) at 11 a.m. before taking on two-time reigning national champion Penn State at 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions, who own an NCAA-record 64-match winning streak, became only the fourth team in Division I women's volleyball history to finish the season with an unblemished slate after going 38-0 in 2008. PSU, which won 114 of its 116 sets last season, will return four of its six starters from the 2008 campaign, all of which were All-Americans last season. A loaded field awaits Saint Louis at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic in Honolulu Sept. 3-6. It will square off against three teams - Hawai'i, California and Texas - that advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight last season. The Billikens then return to the mainland for the State Farm Classic in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 11-12. SLU opens tournament action against perennial Missouri Valley Conference power Illinois State before playing 2008 NCAA Tournament squads Cincinnati and host Illinois.
After playing five 2008 NCAA Tournament teams on the road, SLU returns to the friendly confines of Chaifetz Pavilion for the Billiken Invitational Sept. 18-19. The Bills host local rival SIU Edwardsville, Toledo and UC Davis before opening the Atlantic 10 Conference slate at Rhode Island Sept. 25. This season, the league has increased the number of conference matches from 13 to 15. Saint Louis will be seeking its second straight, and third overall, A-10 regular-season and championship titles. Following the A-10 Championship Nov. 19-21, the Billikens host Middle Tennessee State, another 2008 NCAA Tournament team, Nov. 28. Seven of SLU's foes in 2009 received points in the final 2008 Bison/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. Penn State was No. 1 with all 60 first-place votes and 1500 total points. Texas, California and Hawai'i were ranked Nos. 4, 6 and 7, respectively. Illinois was also ranked, coming in at No. 11. Middle Tennessee and Cincinnati were among the teams earning points after appearing on two or more ballots. The Bills (29-5, 13-0 A-10), who earned the 13th overall seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, finished one of the best seasons in program history ranked No. 21 in the final Bison/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. SLU, which also captured the program's first NCAA Tournament win last season, was ranked eighth in the final RPI (ratings percentage index). The Billikens lose just one player from the 2008 squad while returning four All-Americans and five of their six starters in 2009. |
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