April 27, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Three tournaments to start off the season, with a couple of regional opponents during the middle of another challenging Big 12 season highlight the 2009 Missouri Tigers volleyball schedule released today. The Tigers will get the most out of their non-conference schedule, playing teams from the Big Ten, SEC, Pac-10 and Mountain West Conference before the start of Big 12 play in mid-September.
Mizzou will begin the season at home, hosting the MU Invitational beginning August 28 at the Hearnes Center, hosting Texas State of the Southland Conference, Ole Miss and BYU on that Friday and Saturday. The weekend after, the Tigers will travel to Utah for the Utah Valley Tournament in Orem, Utah to face the Utah Utes, Washington State Cougars and the host Utah Valley Wolverines.
The last tournament on the docket for Mizzou will take place in Ann Arbor for the Michigan Tournament, where the Tigers will face Virginia Commonwealth and Morehead State on September 12 and Fairfield and the home-standing Wolverines in the primetime slot on September 13.
It will not take long for Mizzou fans to get into the Border War spirit, as the team will face Kansas in Columbia for the first installment of the M&I Bank Border Showdown Series, Wednesday, September 16. The match with the Jayhawks also marks the start of the Big 12 conference season. The Tigers will then hit the road to Norman for the first conference road test against the Oklahoma Sooners.
Other matches of note are the two non-conference home games against the Missouri-Kansas City September 23 and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville October 31, while Big 12 Co-Champions Nebraska and Texas will make the trek to Columbia October 17 and November 7.
The Tigers will conclude the 2009 regular season at home against the Baylor Bears Wednesday, November 25 at 6:30 p.m. The festivities will also include the final home game for seniors Lei Wang, Amanda Hantouli and Lauren Nuckolls.
