SAN FRANCISCO – The Washington State University volleyball program published its 2016 schedule and will have 11 matches televised this fall, the Pac-12 Networks and Pac-12 Conference announced Monday.
The Pac-12 Networks has been broadcasting live contests and additional programming about the members of the Conference of Champions since August 12, 2012. In the fifth year of operations, the Pac-12 Networks will televise 94 women's volleyball matches live, with an additional three matches televised live by ESPNU this season.
Jen Greeny begins her sixth season as head coach at WSU. All-Pac-12 players senior Kyra Holt and sophomore McKenna Woodford are among the six returning starters and 12 letterwinners back from the 2015 squad that finished 16-16 overall.
WSU's non-conference schedule includes two teams who advanced to the 2015 NCAA Championship tournament, five teams with RPIs in the top 50 nationally, and a total of eight of the 12 non-conference opponents had RPIs at 104 or better last year with WSU ending the season at 114th. The Cougars open the 2016 volleyball season at the Purdue Mortar Board Tournament in West Lafayette, Ind., Aug. 26-27, taking on Kentucky, Purdue and Wyoming. WSU then heads to the Long Beach State Tournament Sept. 2-3, meeting Northeastern, UC Irvine and host Long Beach State.
WSU returns to the Palouse for the Cougar Challenge tournament, held in Bohler Gym Sept. 9-10, hosting teams from University of Maryland Eastern Shore, George Washington and Idaho. The preconference schedule wraps up Sept. 16-17 with WSU at Waco, Texas, for the Hampton Inn Waco North Baylor Invitational taking on College of Charleston, Virginia and host Baylor.
It will be another year of tough competition in the Pac-12 Conference which had seven members compete in the NCAA Championship tournament in 2015. WSU's opening Pac-12 match for the 2016 season will be on the road at cross-state rival Washington Wednesday, Sept. 21, with the 7 p.m. contest to be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks. The Cougars' first home conference contest is Friday, Sept. 30, versus Stanford. WSU will have Friday/Sunday home volleyball matches during the home football weekends of Oct. 1, Oct. 14, Nov. 5, Nov. 12, and will play Washington in Bohler Gym the day after the Apple Cup game.
Season tickets for volleyball are on sale now and to renew season tickets go to http://goo.gl/s0H2Hk and to become a new season ticket-holder go to http://goo.gl/RJ2DU8.