A pair of home tournaments and a road match at Big 12 foe Kansas State highlight the 2014 South Dakota State volleyball schedule.
The Jackrabbits, who host their annual Yellow and Blue scrimmage Aug. 23, have seven home nonconference matches in August and September.
“The 2014 schedule is a solid schedule for our young team. Having to cancel our home tournament in 2013, left us without many opportunities to play in front of our home crowd,” fourth-year head coach Phil McDaniel said. “That issue has certainly been rectified in the 2014 schedule with 16 home matches.”
South Dakota State opens the 49th season of volleyball when it travels to Princess Anne, Md., for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Tournament Aug. 29-30. The Jacks meet Weber State in their opener and then Fairleigh Dickinson and the host Hawks Aug. 30.
SDSU returns to the friendly confines of Frost Arena for a pair of two-day tournaments and a meeting with North Dakota. It hosts Stephen F. Austin, Kansas City and Valparaiso Sept. 5-6 in the Jackrabbit Invitational. UND is at Frost Sept. 11 before the Jacks host Florida International, Eastern Illinois and Iowa in the SDSU Challenge Sept. 12-13.
South Dakota State has two midweek nonconference matches when it travels to Manhattan, Kan., to play Kansas State Sept. 16 and hosts Northern Iowa Oct. 21.
“Our two home tournaments will be challenging and they will give our home fans a chance to see us against quality opponents in Frost Arena,” McDaniel said. “We are fortunate to have opponents on our schedule from the Big 12, the Big Ten and the Missouri Valley, and we are excited to have two of those opponents at home.”
The Jackrabbits travel to Chicago, Ill., Sept. 19-20 for the Chicago State Tournament. They meet San Jose State and Chicago State Sept. 19 and close with matches vs. UMass-Lowell and Grand Canyon State Sept. 20.
In The Summit League, South Dakota State plays eight home-and-home contests vs. league opponents, including Oral Roberts, which returns to the league this season. Four of the eight home Summit League contests fall on a Friday at Frost Arena, including in-state rival South Dakota (Oct. 17).
“With Oral Roberts coming to the Summit League, our traditional travel partner schedule has been re-structured. We will now play more Sunday matches than we ever have in our League schedule,” McDaniel said.
South Dakota State begins league play Sept. 26, traveling to Oral Roberts. The Jacks return to Frost for a three-match homestand vs. Fort Wayne (Sept. 28), North Dakota State (Sept. 30) and Denver (Oct. 3).
SDSU travels to meet IUPUI (Oct. 10) and Western Illinois (Oct. 12), before returning to Frost for South Dakota (Oct. 17) and Omaha (Oct. 19).
The Jacks play five of their final eight matches on the road, starting with Denver (Oct. 24) and NDSU (Oct. 26). It plays a home match vs. IUPUI on Halloween before going to matches at Omaha (Nov. 2), Fort Wayne (Nov. 7) and USD (Nov. 11).
South Dakota State concludes its regular season Nov. 14-15, hosting Oral Roberts and Western Illinois.
The Summit League Championship is Nov. 21-23, at IUPUI’s The Jungle in Indianapolis, Ind.
