Volleyball Announces 2010 Schedule
5/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
May 12, 2010
WACO, Texas - Following a historic season, Baylor's volleyball team will play 14 matches against NCAA tournament teams in 2010, head coach Jim Barnes announced Wednesday.
The 2009 Bears put together a spectacular season, ending the season ranked 20th by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. The Bears (24-10, 11-9 Big 12) ended the season with an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 run that included a sweep of Georgia Tech and an upset of eighth-seeded UCLA in Los Angeles, before coming to a halt against ninth-seeded California.
Individually, senior setter Taylor Barnes and senior middle blocker Anna Breyfogle became the first All-Americans in program history when they were named to the AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. Both earned all-Big 12 and all-region honors, while Breyfogle was named the Big 12's Defensive Player of the Year. Freshman middle blocker Torri Campbell was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman Team.
"This is probably the toughest non-conference schedule we have put together, playing teams like Minnesota, Dayton and Northern Iowa," Jim Barnes said. "It's going to be a challenge in the non-conference against some quality volleyball teams. All of our non-conference opponents except one are in the top 75 of the RPI."
The Bears will kick off the season at the Ferrell Center, hosting the annual Holiday Inn & Suites Baylor Classic with visiting teams Butler, Stephen F. Austin and SMU on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28-29. A return match at Texas-San Antonio on Sept. 1, precedes the Diet Coke Classic at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 3-4. At Minnesota, BU will face the NCAA second round participants Northern Iowa and Dayton, along with a Final Four team in UM.
Baylor will wrap up non-conference play in Orlando, Fla., at the UCF Invitational with matches against host UCF, Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville.
Next, Baylor will face a daunting start to the Big 12 season, opening at NCAA title-game participant Texas on Sept. 18 before hosting a Sweet 16 team in Iowa State and an Elite Eight team in Nebraska. The Bears will then play four of their next six on the road at Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Missouri.
"The Big 12 is always one of the top conferences as far as strength of schedule," Barnes said. "It will be the same this year with those top teams. The Big 12 schedule alone makes it one of the toughest schedules in the nation."
After home matches against Kansas State and Colorado, a key stretch of the conference schedule features matches at Oklahoma and Iowa State before returning to Waco to face Texas A&M and Texas. BU will then finish with two out of three at home with Missouri and Texas Tech sandwiched around a trip to Nebraska.
"We don't have the experience that we had entering last season, but we are an athletic, hard-working team and will be thrown in the fire early," Barnes said. We will gain that experience early in the season so that it pays off at the end."
The Bears return 10 letterwinners from the 2009 squad, including all-freshman team selection Torri Campbell along with three experience back-row defenders in libero Allison King and defensive specialists Caitlyn Trice and Jordan Rice.
