SPARTANBURG, S.C. – With her second season atop the USC Upstate volleyball program drawing nearer, head coach
Ali Skayhan is excited to announce her team's 2024 program slate, featuring 11 home contests and six matches versus 2023 national postseason teams.
The season begins with a trip to the Triad as Upstate heads to Greensboro, N.C. for a four-team, two-day tournament hosted by UNCG. The Spartans open the event with a pair of first-time opponents, facing Missouri State (10 a.m. ET) and Robert Morris (4:30 p.m.) on Aug. 30 before facing off with the host Spartans at 2 p.m. on Aug. 31.
Upstate's home opener marks the program's first midweek contest of the 2024 campaign as it hosts Furman at the G.B. Hodge Center for the first time in the Division I era (2007-pres.). The match features a 6 p.m. first serve on Sep. 4.
Returning to the road, the Spartans head to the Lowcountry for the CofC Invitational from Sep. 6-7. Upstate opens the two-day event Friday against Pacific (5 p.m.)—the first of six matches against 2023 national postseason teams—before facing College of Charleston (11 a.m.) and Yale (5 p.m.)—one of two 2023 NCAA Tournament teams on the schedule—Saturday.
The penultimate non-conference tournament weekend sees Upstate jaunting to the Queen City for the Queens Fall Classic (Sep. 13-14). The event opens with the Spartans facing William & Mary at 4:30 p.m. Friday before closing with matches versus Queens (1 p.m.) and Davidson (4:30 p.m.) Saturday.
The final tournament weekend sees the Spartans serving as solo host of a multi-team event for the first time since 2013, reviving the Spartan Classic (2007-09; 2011; 2013). Upstate hosts West Georgia and Idaho—a pair of first-time opponents—on Sep. 19 (11 a.m.) and Sep. 21 (11 a.m.), respectively.
The Spartans' non-conference slate closes with its final midweek contest, hosting South Carolina State on Sep. 24.
Big South Conference play once again features a 14-game home-and-home scheduling format, featuring the traditional Friday/Saturday alignment for the second straight season with match times set for 6 p.m. Fridays and 4 p.m. Saturdays. As nine league institutions sponsor volleyball, each program plays just one game during the weekend it competes against its travel partner with these weeks falling on the first and last weeks of the league slate.
Upstate opens conference play against travel partner UNC Asheville on Sep. 27, beginning a five-game homestand to open league play while continuing a season-long eight-game homestand extending to non-conference play. The homestand concludes with matches versus Gardner-Webb and Winthrop on Oct. 4-5 and matches against High Point and Radford on Oct. 11-12.
The Spartans continue Big South play with a stretch of four consecutive road matches. Upstate travels to Charleston Southern on Oct. 18, Presbyterian on Oct. 20, Radford on Oct. 25, and High Point on Oct. 26 as part of the road trip. The final two home matches of the league slate see Presbyterian (Nov. 1) and Charleston Southern (Nov. 2) head to the G.B. Hodge Center before the Spartans close the year on the road versus Winthrop (Nov. 8), Gardner-Webb (Nov. 9), and UNC Asheville (Nov. 15).
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