Sugar Bears announce 2009 volleyball schedule, look for another strong SLC run

University of Central Arkansas head volleyball coach Steven McRoberts announced a 32-match schedule, including tournaments in Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana, for the Sugar Bears for 2009.

The Sugar Bears will kick things off Aug. 28 in Houston at Rice's tournament. They will face the host Owls, Oklahoma and Houston Baptist. The second weekend will be a tournament hosted by Belmont in Nashville, with Samford and Southeast Missouri also there.

"I am excited to open with a very competitive tournament at Rice University," McRoberts said. "Rice finished 2008 as the No. 31 team in the RPI (the highest RPI team the school has ever faced) and Oklahoma returns the bulk of its team. This will be our first competition against a Big 12 team. The second weekend we will be at Belmont and they represented the Atlantic Sun at the NCAA tournament last season. Samford will be in Nashville as well and they had an RPI around 60."

UCA will open play in the Prince Center, where it is 41-10 the last four seasons, with a tournament beginning Sept. 10. The Sugar Bears will play host to Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Air Force and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. UCA will also host Oral Roberts Sept. 22.

"We have a great home midweek match vs. Oral Roberts (91 RPI)," McRoberts said. "We also have a tremendous three-day tournament lined up for our fans in September."

The Sugar Bears will begin defending their Southland Conference-East Division title Sept. 17 at Northwestern State. They also play non-conference teams Alcorn State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Grambling State while in Natchitoches, La.

UCA's first home league match will be on Oct. 1 against Nicholls State.

"The Southland Conference will definitely be better from top to bottom," McRoberts said. "We hope we can continue the momentum we had at the end of 2008 when we won 10 in a row. Our team will no longer surprise anyone in this conference and the goal is an overall championship in 2009."

The Sugar Bears have one other road non-conference match at the University of Memphis on Oct. 6.

UCA went 24-7 overall last season and 12-4 in league play.

2009 UCA volleyball schedule

Aug. 28-29 Rice Tournament in Houston, Texas (Rice, Oklahoma, Houston Baptist)

Sept. 4-5 Belmont Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. (Belmont, Samford, Southeast Missouri)

Sept. 10 Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m.

Sept. 11 Louisiana-Monroe, 2 p.m.

Sept. 11 Air Force, 6 p.m. Sept. 12 Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 14 at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, TBA

Sept. 17 at Northwestern State, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18-19 Northwestern State Tournament in Natchitoches, La., TBA (Alcorn, Louisiana-Lafayette, Grambling)

Sept. 22 Oral Roberts, 7 p.m.

*Sept. 26 at McNeese State, 4 p.m. *Sept. 28 Stephen F. Austin, 7 p.m. *Oct. 1 Nicholls State, 7 p.m.

*Oct. 3 Southeastern Louisiana, 2 p.m.

Oct. 6 at Memphis, 7 p.m.

*Oct. 10 Northwestern State, 2 p.m. *Oct. 14 Texas State, 6:30 p.m.

*Oct. 17 UT Arlington, 2 p.m.

*Oct. 22 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 7 p.m.

*Oct. 24 at Texas-San Antonio, noon *Oct. 30 at Southeastern Louisiana, 7 p.m.

*Oct. 31 at Nicholls State, 4 p.m.

*Nov. 5 McNeese State, 7 p.m.

*Nov. 7 Stephen F. Austin, 1 p.m.

*Nov. 12 Sam Houston State, 7 p.m. *Nov. 14 Lamar, 2 p.m.

*Denotes Southland Conference match