The George Mason women's volleyball team will open the 2014 season starting  on August 29 with the first of four non-conference tournaments before opening Atlantic 10 Conference play at the end of September.

“We have a good mix of returning players and newcomers, and we're looking forward to the start of the season,” said head coach Pat Kendrick. “With the variety of home tournaments and away competition, we'll be ready for the rigors of the A-10 schedule.”

First up is the D.C. Volleyball Challenge hosted by the Patriots and American University Aug. 29-30. The first day of play will be held at AU where Mason will open the season against Howard. The tournament moves to the RAC on the 30th for the first home match of the season.

On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 5-6, Mason will welcome four teams for the Patriot Invitational. As part of Family Weekend festivities on campus, the Patriots face Lehigh and East Tennessee State on Friday before facing William & Mary and the University of Maryland on Saturday.

The Patriots then hit the road for back-to-back tournaments to close out the non-conference schedule. Mason will travel to the University of Delaware Tournament Sept. 12-13 where it will face Princeton and Manhattan on Friday before taking on the host Saturday. The Patriots follow that with a trip to the St. Francis—PA Tournament on the 19-20 facing Loyola on Friday and taking on the host team, St. Francis followed by Morgan State on Saturday.

Mason will then have a small break before opening its second season of Atlantic 10 Conference play Sept. 26-27. The Patriots will celebrate Alumni Weekend with a match against Fordham on Friday, Sept. 26 followed by Rhode Island (Sept. 27). George Mason will wrap up its longest home stand of the season with matches against George Washington (October 3), Dayton (Oct.10) and St. Louis in the Patriots' annual “Dig Pink Match” on Oct. 11.

The Green and Gold then head out on a five-game road trip taking on VCU (Oct. 17), Davidson (Oct. 19), Duquesne (Oct. 24), La Salle (Oct. 26) and George Washington (Oct. 31). The Patriots then wrap up their home schedule starting with Davidson on November 7 followed by Senior Night against VCU on Nov. 8. Mason will close out the regular season with road matches against Rhode Island (Nov. 14) and Fordham (Nov. 16).

The Patriots will be playing for one of the six spots in the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be contested from Nov. 21-23 in Dayton, Oh.