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INDIANAPOLIS – The 2013 season for the IUPUI volleyball team gets underway on Friday, Aug. 30, when the Jaguars welcome Illinois State, VCU and Florida Gulf Coast to The Jungle for the annual IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational.
The Invitational begins at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 31, when Florida Gulf Coast squares off against VCU, before the Jags meet the Redbirds at 7 p.m. in the nightcap.
On Saturday, Aug. 31, four matches will take place beginning with a 10 a.m. showdown between Illinois State and FGCU. IUPUI plays its first match of the day against the Rams at 12:30 p.m., which will be followed by Illinois State taking on VCU at 4 p.m. The tournament finale pits the Jaguars against the Eagles at 6:30 p.m.
"We have been practicing hard for three weeks and we are ready for the season to begin at home in the Hampton Inn Invitational," head coach Steve Payne said. "This is probably one of the toughest fields to come into our gym for the tournament. With VCU and FGCU both having 20-plus wins last season and ISU with 18, we really have our work cut out for us during the opening weekend. Competing against these high quality teams is definitely going to help us prepare for when conference play starts up."
IUPUI closed out the 2012 regular-season by winning eight straight home matches and the Jaguars will take that home winning streak into Friday's match against Illinois State. A win over the Redbirds would tie for the longest home winning streak in program history, matching the record of nine straight home wins set by the 1989 team and the 1993 squad.
Illinois State is led by head coach Melissa Myers, who begins her sixth season as the leader of the Redbirds. Last year, Illinois State went 18-12, including 11-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference to place fifth. The Redbirds lost only one letterwinner from last season's squad and were recently picked to finish fourth in the MVC Preseason Poll. Among the 12 returners is reigning MVC Freshman of the Year Ashley Rosch, who led ISU in kills (336), kills per set (3.08) and points (387.5) as a freshman.
Florida Gulf Coast is coming off a 22-10 record a season ago, including a 16-2 Atlantic Sun mark resulting in the program's second regular-season conference championship. The Eagles return 10 letterwinners from last season, including a pair of first-team all-conference performers in Kaitlin Holm and Jill Hopper. That duo is part of the reason why the Eagles were selected to repeat as Atlantic Sun Champion in the 2013 Atlantic Sun Preseason Poll.
Similar to Illinois State, VCU was picked fourth in the Atlantic 10 after posting a 25-6 record in 2012. The Rams lost five letterwinners from last year's squad, but return a solid nucleus in Romana Kriskova, Cecilia Aragao and Amanda Love for first-year head coach Jody Rogers. Rogers came to VCU from the University of Indianapolis.
The Jaguars return nine players from last year's Summit League regular-season championship squad, including all-conference performers Kaitlyn Hickey and Moriah Fair. In addition to Hickey, the 2012 Summit League Newcomer of the Year, and Fair, IUPUI welcomes back three starters in Alexis Meeks, Kortni Wright and Beth Howard. The 22 wins posted by the Jaguars last season set a new Division-I era program record for wins in a season.
Live stats will be available for all tournament matches, and the three IUPUI matches will be streamed online via IUPUI Live!
