Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - In what must be one of the toughest schedules in NCAA Division II women’s volleyball, the Eckerd Tritons, who will be in pursuit of a fourth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, will encounter the last five national champions (one of them having done it twice consecutively) during the 2009 schedule as announced by Eckerd’s sixth-year head coach Courtney Draper.
Eckerd’s strong schedule will start with a bang at West Florida’s Comfort Inn-vitational, during which the Tritons will face three of last season’s field of 64, including the two-time defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on August 28. The Tritons will also tango with Central Missouri to open the season that day and will play against South Region foes Flagler and West Florida on the 29th.
The Tritons will open their home schedule on Sunday, August 6 during day two of the Florida Southern-Eckerd Invitational against 2005 national champion Grand Valley State at 4pm followed by a duel with East Stroudsburg (Pa.) at 7pm.
Eckerd will open its Sunshine State Conference schedule at Lynn on September 18 before hosting its first home SSC match 10 days later against Rollins.
In non-conference action, the Tritons will go toe-to-toe with 2003 national title winner North Alabama in neutral site action on October 17 and will close their regular season schedule with a pair of SSC home matches against the 2006 and 2004 national champions, Tampa and Barry, respectively, on November 10 and 13 at the MacArthur Center.
2009 Volleyball Schedule
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Reason #11 to Believe in Division II:
National Recognition: Division II student-athletes have received the NCAA’s highest individual honors, including winning the Walter Byers Scholarship Award (the Association’s top student-athlete) and the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.
Eckerd College is a Proud Member of the Sunshine State Conference and NCAA Division II
“I chose Division II”
