ERIE, Pa. - Gannon officials have announced the 2018 women's volleyball schedule which includes nine home matches. Select home contests will again be aired live online, but the broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.
Head coach
Matt Darling's club opens the regular season Friday, August 24 and Saturday, August 25 at the Daemen Tournament. Opponents during the first weekend include Lake Erie, St. Rose and Daemen. The Storm provides an impression season opener after posting a 26-9 record last season.
Gannon will play its first 13 matches away from home. The stretch continues with trips to the Tony Banner Invitational hosted by Clarion University August 31-September 1 and Concord (W.Va.) Classic September 6-7.
Tony Banner Invitational opponents include Cedarville, Concord, Ursuline and Ohio Dominican. The Concord Classic will features matches at two sites. Gannon faces UVa.-Wise and Concord during the opening day at West Virginia Tech. Second-day contests against King (Tenn.) and Kentucky State will take place at Concord. The Thorobreds finished 26-13 last season after falling to Gannon's national semifinal opponent Florida Southern at the NCAA Tournament.
Gannon begins Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action with two more road matches at East Stroudsburg (September 14) and Kutztown (September 15). The Golden Knights finally get to play in front of the hometown fans Friday, September 21 against Millersville at the Hammermill Center. The first home weekend concludes Saturday, September 22 against West Chester. It will be a rematch of last year's PSAC semifinal that resulted in a 3-0 Lady Knight sweep.
A three-match road swing that takes Gannon to Clarion (September 28), Indiana (Pa.) (September 29) and Mercyhurst (October 2) follows. It brings an end to a season-opening stretch that features 18 of the first 20 matches on the road. Both IUP and Clarion posted 20-win seasons a year ago with the Crimson Hawks capturing the PSAC Southwest Division.
The longest homestand of the season consists of six matches between October 5-20. In fact, 67 percent of Gannon's home matches will take place during that 15-day period.
Gannon kicks off the homestand Friday, October 5 against California (Pa.) and Saturday, October 6 against Seton Hill. The Griffins went 22-8 in 2017. The following weekend features match-ups against rival Edinboro (October 12) and Slippery Rock (October 13), before the stretch wraps up against Pitt-Johnstown (October 19) and Shippensburg (October 20). The final contest against the Raiders will serve as Senior Day. Gannon opened last year's NCAA Tournament with victories against Shippensburg and Pitt-Johnstown after previously dropping a five-set decision to the Mountain Cats in the PSAC finals.
The defending NCAA Division II Atlantic Region champions will have to prepare for the postseason with road matches down the stretch, playing four of its final five regular-season affairs away from the Hammermill Center. Road matches are scheduled for Friday, October 26 at Lock Haven and Saturday, October 27 at Bloomsburg.
The final regular-season home match against Mercyhurst is slated for Tuesday, October 30 with the regular season wrapping up Friday, November 2 at Slippery Rock and Saturday, November 3 at Edinboro.
The PSAC Tournament kicks off with the conference quarterfinals Tuesday, November 6, before crowning a champion at the final four Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10. The highest remaining seed after the quarterfinals will host this year's final four. The NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional is slated for November 15-17.
Gannon is fresh off a 32-7 season that culminated with the first NCAA Division II Final Four appearance in program history. The Lady Knights have qualified for a school-record nine consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to back-to-back PSAC title matches, winning the conference championship in 2016. The program has posted back-to-back 30-win seasons, winning 85 percent (63-11) of its matches during that time span.
