The 2008 Missouri State volleyball schedule has been completed and includes a total of 31 matches, 14 of those at Hammons Student Center in Springfield. The schedule includes eight matches against members of the 2007 NCAA Tournament field, two of those on the non-conference slate.

The season opens in Long Beach, Calif., with matches against San Francisco, Indiana and Long Beach State. The Bears then travel across the country to play at the Carolina Classic one week later. MSU will face North Carolina, Davidson and Georgetown in the event before picking up a match against UNC-Greensboro to close the weekend.

The Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational takes place Sept. 12-13 in Springfield. Arkansas-Little Rock, Alcorn State and Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne will join the Bears at the tournament.

Conference play begins Sept. 19 at defending champion Wichita State, and the Bears will play a full 18-match home-and-home MVC schedule that ends Nov. 21 at home against the Shockers.

The final three non-conference matches will be a road match at South Dakota State on Sept. 21 and home contests versus SIU-Edwardsville on Oct. 14 and Texas-Pan American on Nov. 4.

Ticket information can be obtained by calling the Missouri State athletics box office at (417) 836-7678.

The 2008 season will be the 13th under head coach Melissa Stokes. Stokes has guided the Bears to a 270-122 mark since since taking over in 1996, and the team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in four of the last five seasons. Last year, Missouri State fell to 13th-ranked Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.