NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (July 24, 2016) – Rutgers women's volleyball has released its 2017 schedule, head coach CJ Werneke announced Monday. The slate features four nonconference tournaments, 20 conference contests, and 11 home games with opponents that include nine 2016 NCAA qualifiers and two 2016 Final Four teams.
 
"This is a very tough schedule as we play 15 matches against teams that made the NCAA tournament last year," said Werneke. "The schedule overall is a balanced one with some matches that will definitely challenge us.  I keep telling the team that to be the best you have to play the best and we certainly see a lot of the top of the conference this year."
 
Rutgers opens its season at the East Carolina Invitational from Aug. 25-26 before returning home on Wednesday, Aug. 30 to host Siena. The contest marks the Scarlet Knights' earliest home match in over two decades.
 
"The early home match versus Siena will give us an opportunity to play at home earlier in the season than we have had since I've been here and even before that. This will allow us to get used to playing at home quickly, especially with the new student-athletes in our program this year," said Werneke.
 
RU then returns to the road for three more tournaments, including the Seton Hall Classic (Sept. 2), the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic (Sept. 8-9) and the Robert Morris Invitational (Sept. 15-16).
 
"The nonconference matches will allow us to figure some things out before we get to the Big Ten part of our schedule," said Werneke. "Highlighting nonconference, we play against a very talented Northern Iowa team that will prepare us for conference play as they were also an NCAA tournament team last year.  With a lot of new players in all positions, it was important to get a good mix of competitive level in the pre-conference portion of our schedule."
 
The Scarlet Knights then begin their conference slate with four straight home matches, starting with Iowa on Friday, Sept. 22. The team then welcomes Nebraska (Sept. 23), Northwestern (Sept. 29), and Illinois (Sept. 30).
 
The first conference road matchups include Maryland (Oct. 6) and Ohio State (Oct. 7), before returning home to host Michigan (Oct. 13) and Michigan State (Oct. 14).
 
The remaining home matches include Minnesota (Oct. 28), Ohio State (Nov. 8), Purdue (Nov. 15) and Penn State (Nov. 18). Overall, Rutgers will welcome two 2016 Final Four contests "To the Banks" in Nebraska and Minnesota.
 
The away matches wrap up with Indiana (Oct. 20), Purdue (Oct. 21), Northwestern (Oct. 25), Michigan (Nov. 1), Penn State (Nov. 4),Nebraska (Nov. 11), Minnesota (Nov. 24) and Wisconsin (Nov. 25).
 
"The team wants to develop their skills and competing against so many NCAA tournament teams, including two final four teams, will allow our players to measure their development," said Werneke. "Their goal is to develop into an NCAA tournament team and program. We can only do that by playing against these types of teams."
 
The promotional calendar for the season will be announced at a later date. To view the full 2017 schedule please click here.
 
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