July 10, 2009

LUBBOCK, Texas - With camp sessions in full swing, Tech's first-year head volleyball coach Trish Knight announced that most of the season schedule is set and that the majority of home games will begin at 6:30 p.m. as part of an effort to make the sport a little more family-friendly.

"There's a trend in the Big 12 to try to start matches that extra half hour early so that families can reasonably expect to be home early enough on school nights to allow their children to enjoy our sport," Knight said recently. "In the Big 12 most of our matches are played on Wednesday and Saturday nights so we thought it made sense to move to this format as well."

Texas Tech begins their 2009 campaign on the road competing at tournaments in Omaha, Neb., New Orleans and Tulsa, Okla., the first three weeks of the season with a single-match in San Marcos against Texas State on Sept. 2, to round out the pre-conference season schedule of play.

The Red Raiders open Big 12 play on the road at 2008 Co-Conference Champion Nebraska, on Sept. 16, before hosting their first home match on Saturday, Sept. 19 against Texas A&M at 2 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena.

Last year, both Nebraska and Texas (the other co-champion) advanced to Volleyball's version of the Final Four, making the Big 12 the only conference with two participants represented at the NCAA Championship Semifinals. It was the first time two Big 12 squads advanced to the event in the same season. Iowa State advanced to the regional finals, marking the third consecutive year that the league had three schools represent it that far into the postseason.

Only an away match at Baylor still indicates a "to be arranged" designation for the start time as the teams await potential football conflict times to be confirmed. The full schedule, including tournament match-ups, is found at the links on this Web site and any changes which are forced throughout the season will be posted there to help notify fans.