FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's volleyball team will open its inaugural season of Atlantic 10 Conference play on the road in September, highlighting its 2013 schedule which was announced today by head coach Pat Kendrick. In total, the Patriots will host 12 home matches at the RAC, including the annual Patriot Invitational on September 6-7.
“We're excited about our A-10 schedule,” said Kendrick, who begins her 29th season as head mentor. “Our pre-season competition is always challenging, and it will definitely get us ready for what the A-10 has in store.”
The 2013 campaign kicks off on Friday, August 30 at home, when the Patriots host Georgetown in day one of the D.C. Volleyball Challenge. The tournament crosses the river the next day to American's Bender Arena, where Mason will face Howard and the host Eagles. Later that week, the Patriots travel to UMBC for a Wednesday night matchup against the Retrievers.
On Friday and Saturday, September 6-7, the Green and Gold will welcome four teams for the Patriot Invitational. As part of Family Weekend festivities on campus, the Patriots face Coppin State and Princeton on Friday before facing Radford and Temple on Saturday.
Back-to-back weekend tournaments follow to close out the Patriots non-conference schedule. Mason will travel to the College Park Invitational to face host Maryland, Villanova and New Hampshire (Sep. 13-14), with a trip to Greensboro for the Spartan Spiketacular the next weekend. There, the Patriots will square off against TCU, N.C. Central and host UNCG.
Starting their new conference schedule away from home, Mason visits La Salle on Friday, Sep. 27 to begin A-10 play, with a trip to Fordham the next evening. Three straight home matches against Saint Louis (October 4), VCU (Oct. 11), and La Salle (Oct. 12) will follow, before a three-match road trip that will see quick jaunts to VCU (Oct. 18) and George Washington (Oct. 20) and a trip up I-95 to Rhode Island (Oct. 25).
Mason's longest homestand comes next, with four matches against GW (Oct. 27), Duquesne (November 1), Dayton (Nov. 2) and Fordham (Oct. 9) closing out the home schedule. The regular season wraps up on the road on Nov. 15 at Dayton and on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17, at Saint Louis.
The Patriots will be playing for one of the six spots in the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be contested from Nov. 22-24 at GW's Smith Center in Washington, D.C.
