April 20, 2012
2012 Volleyball Schedule
SPRINGFIELD -- The 2012 Missouri State volleyball schedule has been completed and includes a total of 30 matches, 17 of those at Hammons Student Center in Springfield. The Bears will play 10 matches against eight teams that made the 2011 NCAA Tournament, including six on a challenging non-conference schedule.
That non-league schedule begins August 24-25 in Norman, Okla., against three NCAA teams from a year ago in Oklahoma, Tulsa and Western Michigan, and includes six schools that concluded 2011 rated 39th or better in the NCAA RPI. In all, MSU's 12 non-conference opponents combined for a 223-155 (.590) record a season ago.
The first of two home tournaments follows the trip to Norman with a Sept. 5 visit to Kansas State sandwiched in between. The Bears open the home slate Aug. 30 against Oral Roberts to begin the Missouri State adidas Invitational that also includes Dayton, Austin Peay and Arkansas-Little Rock. Dayton posted a 25-7 record last year and rated 34th in the RPI.
The Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational takes place Sept. 7 and 8 and features Connecticut, Nebraska-Omaha, New Orleans and Northern Illinois, which went 28-7 a year ago and ended the year 17th in the final RPI.
Missouri Valley Conference play begins Sept. 14 at Creighton, and the Bears will play a full 18-match home-and-home league schedule that ends Nov. 17 at home against CU. The State Farm MVC Championship takes place Nov. 22-24, with the site to be announced in May.
Missouri State hosts Central Arkansas on Oct. 8 in the lone non-conference match after league play begins.
In total, MSU's 2012 opponents went 370-289 (.561) a season ago, with eight of the 21 teams boasting an RPI of 44 or better and 10 finishing amongst the top 87. The Bears will play 13 total matches against those top-87 teams and 16 matches against schools with a winning record last season.
Ticket information can be obtained by calling the Missouri State athletics box office at (417) 836-7678.
The 2012 season will be the 17th under head coach Melissa Stokes. Stokes has guided the Bears to a 357-164 mark since taking over in 1996, and the team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in seven of the last nine seasons. Last year, the Bears went 22-9 overall and lost at No. 18 Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament while reaching the 20-win mark for the 13th consecutive year, the seventh longest active streak in the country.
