Herd Volleyball Releases 2006 Schedule

March 22, 2006

Huntington, W.Va. - The defending Conference USA volleyball champion Thundering Herd and head coach Mitch Jacobs announced Marshall's 2006 schedule Wednesday.

The Herd has a challenging road ahead in 2006 if it wants to repeat the successes of 2005. Marshall finished last year with a record of 26-6 and won both the C-USA Regular Season and Tournament titles en route to its second NCAA appearance in school history.

"We have quite a few challenges in store for us with this schedule," Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said. "We not only have the tough C-USA schedule as we look to defend our title, but we also have a lot of teams scheduled that will really test us."

In 2006, Marshall will start the season off with preseason tournaments at Appalachian State, Indiana and Pittsburgh and play non-conference matches with Xavier, Miami (Ohio), Grambling State, UW-Green Bay and West Virginia before heading into C-USA play.

Highlighting the non-conference slate at the beginning of the season are matches with Final Four participant Tennessee at the Pittsburgh tournament, as well as a battle with Atlantic Coast Conference co-champion Maryland in the Indiana Hoosier Classic.

Marshall will also battle in-state rival West Virginia for the traveling Golden Ball Trophy on Sept. 19 in Charleston, W.Va. The Herd has won the last four meetings between the two schools. The Herd will also battle former Mid-American Conference rival Miami on Sept. 5 at the Cam Henderson Center as the Herd's home opener.

The Herd plays its last non-conference match of the season in Louisville on Nov. 24, following the C-USA Tournament as a hopeful tuneup for the NCAA Tournament. Last season, Louisville finished ranked No. 11 with only two losses on the year.

"When you look at our non-conference schedule, only four of those teams didn't have a winning record last year and with the likes of Tennessee, a Final Four team last year, ACC Champs Maryland and Louisville to name a few, those are certainly marquee names that are going to challenge our team and will be a good measuring stick for us," Jacobs said. "Then you've got Miami, Xavier, Indiana, Middle Tennessee, WVU and Pittsburgh all before we get into the league schedule."

In Conference USA play, the Herd will have to start out as road warriors if they want to defend their title. Marshall plays four of its first five league matches on the road at ECU, UTEP, Tulsa and SMU.

"We're definitely going to have be tough on the road if we want to compete for the C-USA title this year," Jacobs said. "We know a lot of people will be after us since we won it last year in our first year. Certainly after losing the three seniors we did it's going to be a challenging year and we're going to step up and meet the challenges."

Marshall will host Tulane, Memphis, UAB, Houston, Rice, UCF, Southern Miss and ECU at home in C-USA play this year. The Herd was 9-0 in the Cam Henderson Center last season.

2006 FULL SCHEDULE

Aug. 25, 26 - Appalachian State Tournament (Middle Tennessee, Radford, ASU)

Aug. 30 - @ Xavier

Sept. 1, 2 - Indiana Hoosier Class (Indiana, Maryland, Chicago State)

Sept. 5 - MIAMI (Ohio): Home Opener

Sept. 8, 9 - Pittsburg Tournament (Pitt, Tennessee, Lehigh)

Sept. 14 - @ East Carolina*: C-USA Opener

Sept. 15 - Grambling State

Sept. 16 - UW-Green Bay

Sept. 19 - West Virginia: Golden Ball Battle (Charleston Civic Center)

Sept. 22 - @ UTEP*

Sept. 24 - TULANE

Sept. 29 - Tulsa*

Oct. 1 - @ SMU*

Oct. 6 - MEMPHIS*

Oct. 9 - UAB*

Oct. 13 - @UCF*

Oct. 15 - @Southern Miss*

Oct. 20 - HOUSTON*

Oct. 22 - RICE*

Oct. 27 - UCF*

Oct. 29 - SOUTHERN MISS*

Nov. 3 - @Memphis

Nov. 5 - @UAB

Nov. 11 - EAST CAROLINA

Nov. 16-19 - Conference USA Tournament (TBA)

Nov. 24 - @Louisville

*C-USA Match/ HOME MATCHES IN ALL CAPS

Marshall University Athletics

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