2010 Schedule

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball team announced its 2010 schedule on Friday. The Colonels will play in three invitationals before beginning their 18-match Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

EKU will open its 2010 campaign on Aug. 27 when it begins play in the VB Rags Western Carolina Invitational. Eastern will face Bethune-Cookman at 2:30 p.m. and play the host team, Western Carolina, at 7:30 p.m. The Colonels will end play in the invitational against Coppin State at 11:30 a.m. on the 28th.

Eastern Kentucky will face Appalachian State, Valparaiso and South Carolina Upstate a week later in the Appalachian Invitational. The team will then fly west for the UNLV Invitational in Las Vegas on Sept. 10-11. The Colonels open with UNLV before playing Cal State Fullerton and Pepperdine.

Of the team’s final 19 matches, 18 will be against Ohio Valley Conference teams. The league slate begins on Sept. 17 with a home-match against Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m. Five of Eastern’s first eight OVC matches will be at home. Morehead State will visit McBrayer Arena on Nov. 4. The final non-conference match of the season will be on Nov. 6 against future OVC opponent Southern Illinois Edwardsville. The Colonels wrap up the regular season on the road against Murray State and Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 12 and 13.

The 2010 OVC tournament is scheduled for Nov. 18-20.

Eastern Kentucky finished the 2009 season with a 10-19 record and a 9-9 mark in the OVC. The sixth seeded Colonels were one of the hottest teams entering the conference tournament. Only Austin Peay’s three-match winning streak came close to EKU’s four in a row. Eastern won six of its last eight regular season matches.

Entering the final week of play, Eastern Kentucky needed to win its final four matches and get help from Southeast Missouri. SEMO lost on twice to keep Eastern’s hopes alive. The Colonels took care of business by beating Tennessee State on the road. EKU was then faced with the task of having to win three matches in three days. The Colonels handed Jacksonville State its first conference loss of the season and then avenged a loss earlier in the season to Tennessee Tech. After the match against Tech, the team boarded a bus for Evansville for a make-up match against Eastern Illinois. Eastern Kentucky clinched a spot in the league tournament by beating the Panthers 3-2.