RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced the 2023 UTRGV Volleyball schedule on Thursday, featuring 10 home matches and 29 total contests.
"I think it's a really challenging schedule," UTRGV head coach
Todd Lowery said. "The non-conference schedule is going to be a good balance of really high-quality matches and a few chances for us to get some wins as well and prepare for the WAC schedule. The road matches will test us early. We know whoever can win on the road during the WAC season will put themselves in position to win the championship."
Fans can purchase season tickets by contacting the UTRGV Ticket Sales and Operations team of
Ryela Rodriguez (956-665-3747) and
Eddie Galvan (956-665-3415) over the phone or through email at
tickets@utrgv.edu.
The Vaqueros will play their first six matches and 11 of their 13 non-conference contests on the road. They open the season Aug. 25-27 in Missoula, Montana and will play Montana, BYU and Pitt as part of the Ellesyn Invitational. UTRGV faces off with Penn, Houston Christian and Prairie View A&M Sept. 1-2 in Houston as part of the Molly Howard Gerwig Memorial Tournament.
"Pitt is coming off a Final Four appearance. BYU is a perennial Top-25 team and a physical, big team. It doesn't get much higher quality than that right out of the gate," Lowery said. "It's a good thing for us. We have a new look to our roster, a lot of new faces, so I think that first weekend will be good to find out what we're made of. Those teams will challenge us a lot."
The home opener at the UTRGV Fieldhouse is slated for Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m. against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi as part of the South Texas Showdown presented by Rally Credit Union. The Vaqueros and Islanders will face off again Sept. 9 in Corpus in the Islanders Classic. The match will complete the home-and-home South Texas Showdown presented by Rally Credit Union. UTRGV will also play Tulane during the Islanders Classic on Sept. 10 before returning home for a match Sept. 12 against Incarnate Word.
The Vaqueros will be back on the road for the next five matches. They'll play CSUN, San Francisco and San Jose State Sept. 15-16 as part of the USF Challenge in San Francisco.
UTRGV, the reigning Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season champion, opens the 2023 WAC campaign at UT Arlington and at Stephen F. Austin Sept. 21-23. The Vaqueros will host Southern Utah and Utah Tech in the first conference home matches Sept. 28-30. They'll be back on the road to play at Seattle U and Utah Valley Oct. 5-7 before returning to the UTRGV Fieldhouse Oct. 12-14 for conference matches against Grand Canyon and California Baptist. They'll play at Abilene Christian and Tarleton Oct. 19-21.
The conference schedule turns over in the final week of October, switching home and away for three pairs of contests. UTRGV hosts Stephen F. Austin and UT Arlington Oct. 26-28, then heads on the final road trip of the regular season to face Utah Tech and Southern Utah Nov. 2-4.
The Vaqueros will cap the regular season with a pair of WAC matches against Tarleton and Abilene Christian Nov. 9-11 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
"The WAC continues to get better every year," Lowery said. "I think Grand Canyon's in a great position to make a run this year. SFA, they have basically everything back from a conference tournament champion team last year, so they'll be incredibly tough. Utah Valley returns a lot of good players. California Baptist is another up-and-coming team that will be really difficult to beat. It's going to be a tough schedule and I'm excited to get going."
The top eight teams in the regular season conference standings will advance to the 2023 WAC Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 16-18 in Orem, Utah. The tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will begin the first weekend of December. The NCAA Championship semifinals will be played Dec. 14 and the championship match is slated for Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. in Tampa, Florida. For the first time, the Final Four matches will be broadcast live on ABC.
Complete Schedule
Date Opponent Time (CT) Location
August
Ellesyn Invitational
8/25 Montana 8 p.m. Missoula, Mont.
8/26 BYU 1 p.m. Missoula, Mont.
8/27 Pitt 11 a.m. Missoula, Mont.
September
Molly Howard Gerwig Memorial Tournament
9/1 Penn 3 p.m. Houston
9/2 Houston Christian 10 a.m. Houston
9/2 Prairie View A&M 3 p.m. Houston
9/5 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6:30 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union
Islanders Classic
9/9 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6:30 p.m. Corpus Christi
South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union
9/10 Tulane 11 a.m. Corpus Christi
9/12 Incarnate Word 12 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
USF Challenge
9/15 CSUN 1 p.m. San Francisco, Calif.
9/15 San Francisco 8 p.m. San Francisco, Calif.
9/16 San Jose State 1 p.m. San Francisco, Calif.
9/21 UT Arlington* 6 p.m. Arlington
9/23 Stephen F. Austin* 12 p.m. Nacogdoches
9/28 Southern Utah* 6:30 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
9/30 Utah Tech* 2 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
October
10/5 Seattle U* 8 p.m. Seattle, Wash.
10/7 Utah Valley* 2 p.m. Orem, Utah
10/12 Grand Canyon* 6:30 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
10/14 California Baptist* 2 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
10/19 Abilene Christian* 6 p.m. Abilene
10/21 Tarleton* 1 p.m. Stephenville
10/26 Stephen F. Austin* 6:30 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
10/28 UT Arlington* 2 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
November
11/2 Utah Tech* 7 p.m. St. George, Utah
11/4 Southern Utah* 7 p.m. Cedar City, Utah
11/9 Tarleton* 6:30 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
11/11 Abilene Christian* 2 p.m. UTRGV Fieldhouse
WAC Tournament
11/16 Quarterfinal TBD Orem, Utah
11/17 Semifinal TBD Orem, Utah
11/18 Championship TBD Orem, Utah
December
NCAA First & Second Rounds
12/1-2 TBD TBD TBD
NCAA Regionals
12/7-9 TBD TBD TBD
NCAA Semifinals
12/14 TBD TBD Tampa, Fla.
NCAA Championship
12/17 TBD 2 p.m. Tampa, Fla.
Home Match
*WAC Match
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