Volleyball Announces 2010 Schedule

BUFFALO, NY – Second-year head coach Todd Kress has announced his schedule for the upcoming 2010 season. The Bulls will take part in four tournaments and will have 17 non-conference matches in addition to their 16-match conference schedule. For the second straight season UB will be playing four teams who went to the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Bulls will open the season on the road when they travel to the West Virginia Tournament the last weekend of August. UB will play Youngstown State and the host Mountaineers on Aug. 28 and then will face Howard on Aug. 29.

After a road contest at Niagara, UB comes home to host the first of two straight weekend tournaments. The Bulls will welcome Navy, Delaware State and Central Connecticut State into town for the UB Invite, which will be played on Sept. 3-4. Following a mid-week trip to Syracuse (Sept. 7), the Bulls will host the Blue and White Classic on Sept. 10-11. UB begins the weekend against fellow SUNY member Binghamton and will face Hampton and St. John's on the second day of the tournament.

The following weekend UB will head to Army for the West Point Tournament. UB will meet Hofstra and Air Force on Friday, Sept. 17 and then after an off day will meet Army and Bryant on Sunday, Sept. 19. UB will host Canisius on Sept. 22 before beginning Mid-American Conference play that upcoming weekend. To complete non-conference play, UB and Canisius will meet one more time on November 24 at Canisius, following both team's conference tournaments.

"I am very pleased with the schedule that we have produced for the upcoming season," said Kress. "It will tell us a lot about our team early on and our non-conference matches will get us well prepared for Mid-American Conference play. I believe that our two home tournaments in September are an excellent chance for the Western New York community to come out and see collegiate volleyball at its finest."

Buffalo's Mid-American Conference schedule will begin on the weekend of Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25 when the Bulls host Miami (OH) and Bowling Green, respectively. The 16-match conference slate will see the Bulls play each member of the East Division (Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, Miami and Ohio) twice, both home and away, and each member of the West Division once (home against Ball State, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan and on the road against Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan). The Bulls end the regular season on the road, traveling to Toledo on Sat., Nov. 13.

For the eighth season, every MAC school will qualify for the Mid-American Conference Tournament, and first-round matches will take place on Tuesday, November 16 on the campus sites of the higher seeds. The quarterfinals, semifinals and final match will be on Friday, November 19, Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21 in Toledo, OH.