May 28, 2008
2008 Volleyball Schedule
WACO, Texas - The Baylor volleyball team announced its 31-match schedule for 2008, including three weekend tournaments and the standard 20-match Big 12 Conference slate, head coach Jim Barnes announced on Wednesday.
The Bears will play 13 matches against eight NCAA Tournament teams from 2007, including 10 matches within Big 12 play.
Baylor opens the season by hosting two weekend tournaments. The Bears will host the Baylor Invitational on Aug. 29-30, welcoming Lamar, Prairie View and SMU to the Ferrell Center.
After a midweek trip to Texas State, Baylor will host San Diego St., UT-San Antonio and Weber St. for the Baylor Classic on Sept. 5-6.
Baylor's first extended road trip will be to participate in the Oregon Classic, where the Bears will face 2007 participants Oregon and UNLV along with Eastern Washington on Sept. 12-13.
The Bears open Big 12 Conference play against Texas Tech on Sept. 17 at the Ferrell Center. The league slate remains balanced with consecutive road trips on two occasions and back-to-back home games once.
"Our 2008 schedule has us playing 15 matches against 2007 NCAA tournament teams," said Barnes. "We are excited to host two tournaments here at Baylor to start off the season. We then go to Oregon's tournament that will be very challenging. Oregon made it to the Sweet 16 last season. Then we take on the best volleyball conference in the nation the Big 12. It is one of the toughest schedules in the nation and we will have to be ready to compete every match to have a chance to win. We feel we have a nice mixture of returning experience and new talent to push us towards an NCAA run."
Baylor will play host to TCU for its final non-conference match of the season on Nov. 11.
Baylor returns seven letterwinners and four starters from its 2007 squad that posted a 14-17 overall record and an eighth place finish in the Big 12 with a 6-14 conference record.
All-conference candidates Taylor Barnes, Anna Breyfogle and Katie Sanders return to anchor the Bears, while sophomore Ashlie Christianson also returns as a starter at outside hitter.
Baylor also welcomes seven newcomers to the 2008 squad, including Krista Brenner, the No. 52 player in the class of 2007, a transfer from Tennessee and Briana Tolbert, the No. 62 player in the class of 2008, a freshman from Houston.
