June 28, 2006
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ORLANDO - UCF volleyball head coach Meg Colado announced the Golden Knights' 2006 schedule on Wednesday and the team will face five squads that participated in the NCAA Championship a year ago. The Golden Knights will host a pair of tournaments in Orlando and will have 15 total home matches at UCF Arena.
Colado's squad, which will be competing in Conference USA for the second year, will play 16 league contests. Overall, the Golden Knights will play five squads that played in the postseason in 2005 (BYU, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida A&M and Marshall). UCF will face C-USA champion Marshall twice.
"We are so excited to be playing more home matches this season. This will give our fans many more opportunities to come out and cheer us on," said Colado. "We play two teams that were in the top-25 last year (BYU and Florida). As always, we have a very tough tournament schedule that we hope will prepare us for a difficult conference schedule."
UCF opens the season at home on Aug. 25, facing local rival Stetson at the UCF Fall Invitational. Florida International and BYU are also participating in the tournament. The Golden Knights will welcome Furman, Samford and Utah Valley State to Orlando for the UCF Classic tournament, which begins Sept. 1.
In addition to Stetson and Florida International, the Golden Knights will also face in-state foes Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, North Florida and USF in non-conference play. UCF visits Florida on Sept. 8. The teams will be meeting for the first time since playing in the 2003 NCAA Championship.
UCF will open C-USA play on the road on Sept. 15, playing host Southern Miss. The team will make its home debut on Sept. 22 against SMU at UCF Arena. Additionally, the Golden Knights will host East Carolina, Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane, UAB and UTEP for league contests.
After finishing its regular season on Nov. 12 versus UAB at home, the Golden Knights will compete at the C-USA Championship, hosted by Houston from Nov. 17-20. The league champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
The Golden Knights return six letterwinners from last season's squad. The team played just 10 home matches in 2005 and did not make its home debut until Sept. 27.