NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State volleyball program revealed its 25-match schedule for the 2016 season on Monday, which includes seven home contests this upcoming year.
Altogether, the Spartans will play in three tournaments at the beginning of the season, a home-and-home with North Carolina A&T as well as another non-conference matchup at VCU. In addition, the back half of the schedule includes all six MEAC Northern Division rivals, both home and away, for a final 25-match tally.
Of NSU’s six conference home matches, four will come during a pair of usual MEAC Friday-Sunday weekends. The Spartans will also host conference schools for an additional two Sunday matches as well as N.C. A&T for a mid-week contest.
The Spartans’ season begins on Aug. 26 with the two-day Virginia Tech/Radford Invitational, where NSU plays UMBC to open the year and then plays an addition two matches on Aug. 27 against Appalachian State and Radford. The contest against Appalachian State will be played at Virginia Tech, while the other two will take place at Radford.
NSU competes in four matches over three days at the UMES Courtyard Classic from Sept. 2-4, with matchups versus South Carolina State and American on the first day, Navy on day 2 and then host UMES on the final day. The Spartans then close out the tournament part of their early schedule with three contests at the Phoenix Classic hosted by Elon on Sept. 9-10. Host Elon, Wofford and Gardner-Webb appear on NSU’s portion of the schedule there.
After a weekend off, NSU begins MEAC play on Sept. 23 and 25 at Coppin State and Morgan State, respectively. The following weekend, the Spartans debut their home slate, first against UMES on Sept. 30 and then versus Delaware State on Oct. 2.
The contest against the Hawks will begin at 6 p.m., and the matchup against the Hornets two days later starts at 3 p.m. All weekday start times for NSU volleyball will be 6 p.m. this year, with Sunday matches beginning at 3 p.m.
After a visit to North Carolina A&T on Oct. 4, the Spartans return home to host Howard on Oct. 9 and then the Aggies on Oct. 12 in the return match of the home-and-home non-conference series. NSU’s following weekend includes trips to Hampton on Oct. 14 and Delaware State on Oct. 16.
The Spartans will again host two matches in one weekend, the first on Oct. 21 against Coppin State and then two days later versus Morgan State. NSU closes out the month with its final non-conference match at VCU on Oct. 25 and then at Howard on Oct. 28.
The Spartans take a trip to UMES on Nov. 4 and then return home for the final match of the regular season on Nov. 6 against Hampton. The MEAC tournament runs from Nov. 18-20 and will be hosted again this year by UMES.
The Spartans will return seven letterwinners from last year in addition to one player who sat out due to injury and will welcome a yet-to-be determined number of newcomers.