Volleyball Releases 2016 Schedule
Jul 18 | Women's Volleyball
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (July 18, 2016) - The Rutgers women's volleyball team has released its 2016 schedule, a slate that boasts 33 matches comprised of four nonconference tournaments and 20 Big Ten matches, including 10 at the College Ave. Gym.
"We are looking forward to a challenging schedule this year as we will compete against 11 teams that made the NCAA tournament in 2015, including the 2015 National Champions, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, on our home court!, said ninth-year head coach CJ Werneke.
"In our nonconference schedule, we will compete against several regular season conference champions as well as tournament champions. With a good mix of returning veterans along with our incoming players we feel it is a great preconference schedule that will challenge us in preparation for Big Ten play."
Rutgers will cross paths with a total of 11 NCAA qualifiers and seven ranked opponents, including the 2015 National Champion Nebraska at home. It marks the second consecutive season RU will host the reigning NCAA Champion, after welcoming Penn State in 2015.
Additionally, the NCAA qualifiers include nonconference foes Cleveland State, the 2015 Horizon League regular season and tournament champion, and New Hampshire, the 2015 America East regular season and tournament champion. The conference foes to punch tickets to the Tournament include No. 4 Minnesota, No. 8 Penn State, No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 14 Ohio State, No. 17 Purdue, No 21 Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan.
The 2016 slate begins at Bryant for the Scarlet Knights' first nonconference tournament of the season from August 26-27, taking on host Bryant, St. John's, Rider and Hartford. Up next, RU will travel to the Yale Invitational (Sept. 2-3) to face host Yale, Iona and Albany, the regular season co-champion of the America East. RU wraps up its road tournaments at the Temple Invitational (Sept. 9-10), with host Temple, Cleveland State and New Hampshire.
The Scarlet Knights make their home debut at the annual Rutgers Invitational from Sept. 15-17 at the College Ave. Gym. The tournament includes in-state rivals Seton Hall and Princeton, along with Seattle. The Tigers earned a share of the 2015 Ivy League championship.
Rutgers then opens Big Ten play with a home matchup against Penn State on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The rest of the league home slate includes Michigan (Sept. 30), Michigan State (Oct. 1), Wisconsin (Oct. 5), Maryland (Oct. 22), Iowa (Nov. 4), Nebraska (Nov. 5), Indiana (Nov. 20), Illinois (Nov. 25) and Northwestern (Nov. 26).
Additionally, the Scarlet Knights return trips to Illinois (Sept. 24), Penn State (Oct. 8), Indiana (Oct. 14), Michigan State (Oct. 19), Minnesota, (Oct. 28), Wisconsin (Oct. 29), Maryland (Nov. 12) and Iowa (Nov. 16). RU will travel for single matchups to Purdue (Oct. 15) and Ohio State. (Nov. 11).
"We are looking to continue our progress in the country's best volleyball conference as we will begin our third year in the league," said Werneke. "We are excited about taking the next step in that process and growing as a program through the gauntlet known as the Big Ten."
The full schedule can be viewed below and is available for download by clicking here.
2016 RUTGERS VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
| Fri., Aug. 26 | vs. St. John's | Smithfield, R.I. | 11 a.m. |
| vs. Rider | Smithfield, R.I. | 5 p.m. | |
| Sat., Aug. 27 | vs. Hartford | Smithfield, R.I. | 10 a.m. |
| at Bryant | Smithfield R.I. | 5 p.m. | |
| Fri., Sept. 2 | vs. Iona | New Haven, Conn. | 4:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 3 | vs. Albany | New Haven, Conn. | 12:30 p.m. |
| at Yale | New Haven, Conn. | 7 p.m. | |
| Fri., Sept. 9 | vs. New Hampshire | Philadelphia, Pa. | 3:30 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 10 | vs. Cleveland State | Philadelphia, Pa. | 12:30 p.m. |
| at Temple | Philadelphia, Pa. | 6 p.m. | |
| Fri., Sept. 16 | PRINCETON | New Brunswick, N.J. | 12:30 p.m. |
| SEATTLE | New Brunswick, N.J. | 6:30 p.m. | |
| Sat., Sept. 17 | SETON HALL | New Brunswick, N.J. | 9:30 a.m. |
| Wed., Sept. 21 | PENN STATE* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Sept. 24 | Illinois* | Champaign, Ill. | 8 p.m. |
| Fri., Sept. 30 | MICHIGAN* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 1 | MICHIGAN STATE* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 5 | WISCONSIN* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 8 | Penn State* | University Park, Pa. | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 14 | Indiana* | Bloomington, Ind. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 15 | Purdue* | West Lafayette, Ind. | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 19 | Michigan State* | East Lansing, Mich. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 22 | MARYLAND* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Oct. 28 | Minnesota* | Minneapolis, Minn. | 8 p.m. |
| Sat., Oct. 29 | Wisconsin* | Madison, Wisc. | 8 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 4 | IOWA* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 5 | NEBRASKA* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 11 | Ohio State* | Columbus, Ohio | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 12 | Maryland* | College Park, Md. | 7 p.m. |
| Wed., Nov. 16 | Iowa* | Iowa City, Iowa | 8 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 20 | INDIANA* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 1 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 25 | ILLINOIS* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 26 | NORTHWESTERN* | New Brunswick, N.J. | 7 p.m. |
*Denotes Big Ten Conference matches
Home matches denoted by BOLD CAPS
All times listed in ET
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