May 4, 2007
Complete Schedule in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- Thirteen home matches and 14 matches against teams that advanced to the 2006 NCAA Tournament, highlight the 2007 University of Notre Dame’s volleyball schedule, head coach Debbie Brown announced recently.
The Fighting Irish are set to participate in three early season tournaments. Notre Dame will host the annual Shamrock Invitational (Sept. 7-9), while also participating in both the Tiger Invitational (Aug. 31-Sept. 2) and the Bronco Invitational (Sept. 14-16) this season.
Notre Dame opens the 2007 season taking on two of the toughest teams in the nation at the Joyce Center. The Irish will battle against Minnesota on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. This is the first meeting with the Gophers since the 1993, when the teams met in the NCAA Regional Semifinals. The busy weekend continues with a match against Florida on Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. These two teams last met in 2005 in the UTSA Dome Rally with Notre Dame taking all three games over the higher ranked opponent.
The Irish then head to Columbia, Missouri to play against Florida International (Aug. 31), Florida A&M (Sept. 1) and Missouri (Sept. 2) in the Tiger Invitational. Last season, the Irish and the then ranked No. 13 Missouri Tigers locked up in a thrilling five-game match during the Shamrock Invitational.
A quick stop home to host the Shamrock Invitational follows for Notre Dame. College of Charleston (Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.), Alabama (Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.) and Ohio (Sept. 8 at 2:30 p.m.) are the teams on the schedule for the lone home hosted tournament of the season.
A trip to California to play in the Bronco Invitational marks the end of the regular season tournament schedule. The Irish will lock up with Santa Barbara (Sept. 14), California (Sept. 15) and Santa Clara (Sept. 16). The match with California is a first for the two programs since 1991.
The following weekend, Sept. 22-23, has Notre Dame starting BIG EAST conference play with road games against Pittsburgh (Sept. 22) and West Virginia (Sept 23).
The Irish then return home and host BIG EAST conference foes Seton Hall (Sept. 29 at 2 p.m.), Villanova (Sept. 30 at 2 p.m.) and Rutgers (Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.), before road matches against Marquette (Oct. 12) and Syracuse (Oct. 14).
The volleyball team is scheduled to play three matches this season that will precede football pep rallies, starting with the DePaul conference match on Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. A quick trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to play against LSU precedes a back-to-back road conference weekend against Connecticut (Oct. 27) and St. John’s (Oct. 28).
The Irish concludes the home portion of the regular season with four consecutive conference matches. Georgetown, the second of the pep rally matches, starts the slate at 4 p.m. on Nov. 2. Later in the weekend, after the Navy football game, Notre Dame will battle against South Florida in a Sunday afternoon match at 2 p.m. on Nov. 4. The following weekend, Nov. 9-11, finds the Irish hosting its final pre-pep rally match against Cincinnati on Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. The day after the Air Force football game (Sunday, Nov. 11) Notre Dame hosts Louisville at 2 p.m. to conclude the home regular season.
The BIG EAST Conference Championships is slated for Nov. 16-18 at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The top eight teams from the regular season will qualify for the championships. Notre Dame has been crowned champion of the conference tournament nine times and has played in the champion game all 12 years since joining the BIG EAST in 1995.
Notre Dame, upon the conclusion of the BIG EAST Championships, will wrap up the regular season with a match against Tennessee on Nov. 23 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Tennessee (first round) is one of 12 non-conference opponents that made the 2006 NCAA Tournament on the 2007 schedule: Minnesota (final eight), Florida (round of 16), Florida A&M (first round), Missouri (second round), College of Charleston (first round), Alabama (first round), Ohio (first round), Santa Barbara (first round), California (round of 16), Santa Clara (first round) and LSU (first round). The Irish will also face a pair of conference opponents that earned tournament bids in Louisville (first round) and Saint John’s (second round)
The 2007 NCAA Championships begins on Nov. 29-Dec. 2 with first-and-second round action on 16 campus sites. The tournament continues Dec. 7-8 with regional action in four cities (Gainesville, Fla.; University Park, Pa.; Stanford, Calif.; and Madison, Wis.), and culminates with the semifinals on Dec. 13 and the finals Dec. 15 both at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif. The Irish have earned bids to 15 consecutive NCAA tournaments.
“I feel our 2007 schedule is very balanced and conducive to us doing well throughout the season,” Brown stated. “I’m very excited about the overall strength of the schedule with 14 teams that earned bids in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. This schedule is essential for both the growth and development of our program.”
“We start the season at home against two very strong, perennial top 20 programs in Minnesota and Florida. Combine those two matches with the teams we are playing in the Tiger, Shamrock and Bronco Invitational, and then add in LSU in the middle of the year and we have quite an impressive non-conference schedule.”
“The teams in the BIG EAST Conference are also greatly improved, shown last season with three teams from the conference being selected to the NCAA Tournament. In general, I’m very pleased with both our conference and non-conference slate this season. This is the type of schedule we need to play so we are playing our best volleyball at the right time in late November and early December. I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge this year’s schedule presents us.”
Notre Dame, which went 18-14 in 2006, played in its 12th consecutive BIG EAST Championship game and made the NCAA Tournament for the 15th consecutive season, returns 11 monogram winners and six starters in 2007.
— ND —