Fresno State Athletics
Volleyball Spring Schedule Announced
3/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
March 19, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State volleyball team is preparing for the 2009 season as the Bulldogs will play in four spring tournaments from the end of March through the month of April in which they will play some of the top teams in the state of California.
"Competition in the spring is important," said head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. "When teams don't compete for an entire year you get out of practice and so we will get four competitions in the spring. With that, we only have a few weeks of team practice before that happens so it's a time where teams are a little messy but it is fun. We get try new things, different lineups and it's a great time to test and see if we are heading in the right direction."
The schedule begins with a home tournament in the North Gym on March 28. Teams in the Bulldogs tournament include: San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno Pacific and Sacramento State. A full schedule will be announced in the coming days. All matches are free and open to the public.
"Fresno State the last few years hasn't seen a lot of Southern California teams," Netherby-Sewell added. "So we are trying to pick teams that are within in our region that we need to start beating so if we can see them in the spring when it doesn't count it gives us a heads up on where we are at and where we need to go."
Fresno State then will try something new on April 4. The Bulldogs will participate in a sand tournament hosted by Long Beach State in Southern California. The beach tournament features teams of four and doubles teams. Other Universities participating are Pepperdine, UC Irvine, Montana, Arkansas, Cal Poly, San Diego State and USC.
"The beach tournaments are becoming really popular for indoor teams to do," said Netherby-Sewell. "I think the beach is the best place to train and to play raw, smart volleyball. It's going to be fun and very challenging but the team is looking forward to it."
Then the 'Dogs will head to Cal State Northridge on April 18th to play at the Matadome in Redwood Hall. Matches begin at 8:30 a.m. Teams in this tournament include San Diego State, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount. Fans traveling to the CSUN tournament can park for $5.00 and passes can be purchased at the Information Booth or at the yellow kiosk.
The final tournament of the spring season will be hosted by Loyola Marymount in the Los Angeles area on the weekend of April 24.
All spring matches will play rally scoring to 25 and the best two-out-of-three sets will win the match. Records in spring tournaments do not affect a team's school record. Live stats will not be provided but www.gobulldogs.com will provide limited results and recaps at the conclusion of each tournament. More information on each of these tournaments will be available closer to the actual date.
"Join the State - Fresno State!" - For ticket information click the icon on the top of the page. For information on Bulldog volleyball in the offseason stay logged on to www.gobulldogs.com.
