As Texas A&M athletics enters the lull of summer, the A&M Volleyball team is preparing for their tough schedule, which was announced Wednesday afternoon.
The Aggies will play a thrilling schedule, which includes a 13 game home stand, and 10 games against opponents who finished the 2014 season ranked or receiving votes in the final top 25 poll.
“This certainly is one of the toughest schedules we have ever had during my tenure at Texas A&M,” said A&M Head Coach Laurie Corbelli. “At the same time, the schedule presents an exciting opportunity and challenge for our veteran team that returns starters at every position and includes three honorable mention All-Americans.”
The squad will face a challenge right off the bat, as they open the season against national title contender, and volleyball power Stanford in the Stanford Invitational. The Cardinal return four all-Americans from last season, a team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament semi-finals and finished the season ranked No. 2 in the country. A&M will finish the tournament with a match against Minnesota from the Big Ten.
“That is such an exciting first trip,” Corbelli said. “We are starting off against a Final Four team that competes in one of the toughest conferences in the country, and Minnesota is going to really test us, too. Our team will be prepared and benefit a ton from playing them. It will be an incredible challenge and it will help us improve the intensity and excitement of our two-a-days.”
The Aggies make their home debut with the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 4. A&M will face off against Wichita State, Abilene Christian and close out the tournament against New Mexico State.
After their home debut, A&M will travel to the University of Iowa Tournament to take on Iowa State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
National threat Colorado State, who climbed as high as No. 6 in the polls last season, will come to College Station for a Tuesday match, then A&M will wrap up non-conference play in Tallahassee against Florida State and Florida A&M.
The Aggies then enter their 18-game SEC slate, beginning with Arkansas.
A key game on the schedule will be on Nov. 22nd at home against the defending SEC champion Florida Gators, who finished ranked No. 6 in the nation, falling in the Elite Eight to Stanford in the NCAA Tournament.
A&M returns 11 lettermen from last year’s team, which finished 21-9 and made their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. The season begins against Stanford on August 28th in Palo Alto, California.
