DENVER – The University of Denver volleyball team released its 2014 schedule on Friday as the Pioneers will enter their second season in The Summit League.
“We are very excited to announce our schedule for the 2014 season,” DU head coach Jesse Mahoney said. “Once again, we have scheduled very aggressively in the preseason, with several matches against teams in the top 25. Our players really embrace the challenge of playing high-level programs early in the season to push us to play at our potential in preparation for conference play.”
The Pioneers, who have finished 17-13 in back-to-back seasons and with a 10-4 record in conference play last year, will enter the 2014 season with its first-ever PrepVolleyball.com "Top 30 Collegiate Recruiting" class.
Along with Pepperdine transfer setter Monique Domme (Colorado Springs, Colo.), the group of freshmen consists of outside hitter Cassie Baird (Indianapolis, Ind.), setter Piyusha Boteju (Euless, Texas), middle blocker Nikki Kennedy (Parker, Colo.), libero Taylor Loyd (Centennial, Colo.), right side hitter Kayla Principato (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) and libero Cassidy Rooke (La Jolla, Calif.).
DU will also have six players returning in 2014, five of which were starters last season, including senior setter Bailey Karst (Aurora, Colo.), who led the Pioneers with 10.44 assists per set and was second on the team with a .461 assist percentage.
Four of the Pioneers’ opponents played in the 2013 NCAA Tournament (Colorado State, IUPUI, Kansas and Nebraska) with NU reaching the Quarterfinals and KU advancing to the Round of 32.
NU, KU and CSU ended the 2013 season ranked No. 7, No. 17 and No. 21, respectively, in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll. They also had respective RPI rankings of No. 8, No. 12 and No. 23, the three highest from last season among DU’s 2014 opponents.
The Pioneers open the season at the Texas Arlington Tournament in Arlington, Texas, where the Crimson and Gold will take on Jackson State on Aug. 29 and finish the event against Incarnate Word and UT Arlington on Aug. 30.
DU will play its first three home contests as part of the Denver Classic, during which the Pioneers will host Sam Houston State on Sept. 5 before playing Bradley and KU on Sept. 6. DU closed the book on the 2013 season on the road against the then-No. 21 Jayhawks in a 3-1 loss on Nov. 26.
After facing CSU on Sept. 9, the Pioneers will face Akron, Colgate and NU during the Sept. 12-13 Nebraska Tournament in Lincoln, Neb. With its aforementioned trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2013, NU is a perennial national championship contender and averaged more than 8,000 in attendance last season.
Upon completing the Nebraska Tournament, DU will travel to Air Force on Sept. 16. This will precede the Pioneers’ final tune-up before conference play with the Denver Invitational in which DU will take on San Francisco on Sept. 19 and finish off the weekend on Sept. 20 against both Nevada and UTEP.
DU will begin its 16-match conference slate on Sept. 26 at Western Illinois and will play its first home conference contest against Oral Roberts on Sept. 29 before going back on the road to compete against South Dakota State on Oct. 3.
Although DU will bring back the majority of its 2013 starters, Mahoney believes the return of ORU into the league as well as the conference’s generally youthful 2014 rosters will prove to present quality challenges for the Pioneers.
“We lose several key performers from our 2013 squad, but we return five starters to a young team that gained a lot of experience in their first season in The Summit League,” Mahoney said. “But the league gets tougher this year: So many teams were young and improving last season. Seventy-five percent of the league’s all-conference players will return in 2014, and with the addition of Oral Roberts, there aren’t any easy wins on the board.”
The Pioneers kick off a three-match homestand against Omaha (Oct. 5), North Dakota State (Oct. 10) and South Dakota (Oct. 12).
DU will conclude the first half of conference play with a pair of matches in the Hoosier State at Fort Wayne on Oct. 17 and at IUPUI on Oct. 19. IUPUI, the reigning conference regular-season and tournament champion, entered the 2013 NCAA Tournament where it faced No. 4 seed Missouri in the opening round and lost 3-0.
The Crimson and Gold start the second half of the conference schedule at home against SDSU on Oct. 24. The Pioneers close out October at NDSU on Oct. 28 and bookend the road trip at UNO on Oct. 31.
DU will then host WIU on Nov. 2, prior to finishing road conference play with a contest at USD on Nov. 7 and a match at ORU on Nov. 9.
The Pioneers return home for their final two conference matches, hosting IUPUI on Nov. 14 and IPFW on Nov. 16.
With an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament at stake, The Summit League Tournament will be played in Indianapolis, Ind. on Nov. 21-23.
Six days before the start of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 5, the Pioneers will travel to Greeley, Colo. to play Northern Colorado on Nov. 29.
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