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RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced the 2024 volleyball schedule Thursday, which features 10 home matches including one against Texas Tech on Sept. 12 as part of the UTRGV Tournament.
Volleyball season tickets and multi-sport passes can be purchased online at GoUTRGV.com/VolleyballSeasonTickets and GoUTRGV.com/MultiSportPass, respectively, or by contacting assistant director for ticket sales and operations Ryela Rodriguez over the phone (956-665-3747) or through email at tickets@utrgv.edu.
“We put together a competitive schedule,” head coach Todd Lowery said. “Our home tournament with Texas Tech and San Francisco coming to town is going to be a great chance to come see some amazing volleyball across the board. To watch all those teams square off against each other here in the Valley is going to be really exciting.”
UTRGV’s 2024 campaign begins with a neutral-site match against Charlotte on Aug. 30 in Greenville, South Carolina as part of the Furman Invitational. The Vaqueros will also face Furman and Charleston Southern during the season-opening tournament. They will compete in the Akron-CSU Co-Tournament Sept. 6-7, facing Wyoming, Cleveland State and Akron in Ohio.
The home opener at the UTRGV Fieldhouse will pit the Vaqueros against Texas Tech at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 to kick off the UTRGV Tournament. Other teams attending the UTRGV Tournament are San Francisco, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Houston Christian. There will be four matches at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Sept. 13 with three neutral matches followed by UTRGV playing San Francisco at 6:30 p.m. The tournament finishes Sept. 14 with a neutral match between San Francisco and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
UTRGV’s final non-conference matches will be in El Paso as part of the UTEP Southwest Showdown. The Vaqueros battle host UTEP, the 2023 National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) runner-up, on Sept. 20 and Texas State on Sept. 21.
“Those are programs that are doing really good things. Texas State’s consistently in the NCAA Tournament or fighting at the top of their conference and what UTEP has done in the last few years, being in the NIVC Championship game last year, is impressive,” Lowery said. “That tournament will take place here in 2025. Those are going to be fun teams to bring down here and play regularly. We signed a four-year contract so that tournament will rotate around with all four schools, including Corpus, hosting, and it’s the first time we’ve done something like that here. It speaks volumes to the growth of our program that teams like that are looking to get together and put together a strong RPI tournament.”
The Vaqueros will play 16 conference matches in their first season in the Southland Conference (SLC), with eight at home and eight on the road. Their first SLC match is slated for Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse against Stephen F. Austin.
UTRGV will hit the road to face Incarnate Word and Houston Christian, then returns home for three consecutive matches. The first South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi kicks off the homestand at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 8. The Vaqueros host Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Commerce on Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 2 p.m., respectively, before road contests against the same two teams Oct. 17-19.
UTRGV hosts McNeese on Oct. 24 at 12 p.m. and Nicholls on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. before a four-match road streak featuring matches at Corpus, Lamar, New Orleans and Southeastern.
The Vaqueros wrap up the regular season at the UTRGV Fieldhouse against Incarnate Word on Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. and Houston Christian at 2 p.m. on Nov. 16.
The Southland Conference Volleyball Championship is set for Nov. 21-24 in Hammond, Louisiana.
“The Southland is a great spot for us to land. With SFA coming back with us, you take two of the top teams over the last few years in the Western Athletic Conference and add that to Corpus, Houston Christian, Southeastern, McNeese, Commerce, and all of a sudden you have a very, very competitive conference at the top,” Lowery said. “The big thing for us this first season is just to see how the wear and tear changes on our student-athletes and learn what’s going to give us the best opportunity to compete for a championship in the Southland.” Support UTRGV Volleyball | Become a Fan on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Follow us on Instagram | Follow us on YouTube
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