Aug. 6, 2005
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State volleyball team will open its 2005 campaign the weekend of Sept. 2-3 as it hosts the annual Aztec Invitational. The Aztecs will open the tourney with a match vs. Liberty University on Sept. 2 at 11:00 a.m. The tournament will provide the team's first four contests in a season that will have them play a total of 29 matches prior the traveling to Las Vegas for the annual Mountain West Conference championships during Thanksgiving weekend.
In addition to Liberty, SDSU will also face Creighton, Southern Illinois and UC Riverside during its opening weekend of play. The Aztec Invitational is the first of three tournaments in which the Aztecs will compete this fall.
San Diego State will travel to Lubbock Texas for the Red Raider Classic in which they will play host Texas Tech as well as Georgia and Boise State. A week later it will be in Ohio for the Medical Mutual Cleveland State Invitational.
Other 2005 non-conference opponents include the University of San Diego and Loyola Marymount, both of which were nationally ranked a year ago, along with Cal State Fullerton.
The Aztecs' league slate begins with home matches vs. Colorado State and Wyoming in Late September. The conference will have a different dimension this season with the addition of TCU as the MWC's ninth member.
"We're excited about the coming season and believe we have a very balanced schedule," said head coach Mark Warner. "Our opening weekend will be a good test for us and help us gauge where we're at competitively.
"We play some of our perennial opponents such as LMU and USD, but we'll also get a look at teams from other areas of the country that we haven't seen before. The schedule should help us prepare for the always tough Mountain West Conference slate."
The Aztecs open preseason camp on Friday (Aug. 12) and will hold two-a-day workouts the next two weeks as they prepare for their season opener.