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Cabot Center
BOSTON – Northeastern volleyball head coach Ken Nichols unveiled the program's 2017 schedule on Friday, revealing the opponents and tournaments that lie ahead for the Huskies during their 44th competitive season.
NU will play 17 matches against schools that ended 2016 ranked among the top 150 in the RPI, 12 of which fall within the Huskies' 16-match CAA slate.
"This year's schedule will certainly be a challenge for us, but we have never chosen an easy path and my student-athletes prefer it that way," said Nichols. "I think the primary difference this season is that we have less variance overall and therefore more robust competition day in and day out."
Northeastern will begin the 2017 campaign with a trio of non-conference road tournaments that will take place in succession during the first three weekends of the season.
NU will kick off the year with arguably its most competitive round robin of the season, the Maryland Invite (Aug. 25-26), where the Huskies will strike their first serve of 2017 against Temple on Friday at 4 p.m. The Owls hold the highest RPI among Northeastern's 2017 opponents (No. 47) and are also one of five 20-win programs on the Huskies' docket this year. NU will close out the weekend on Saturday with a pair of matches against the event host, Maryland, and UMBC.
Northeastern will follow the Maryland Invite with a west-coast trip to the Pepperdine/CSUN Challenge (Aug. 31-Sept. 2). During their California stay, the Huskies will sandwich true road matches against the joint tournament hosts – first against Pepperdine (Aug. 31) and last against CSUN (Sept. 2) – around a neutral-site contest against Weber State (Sept. 1), held at CSUN.
Upon its return to the east coast, Northeastern will head to Rhode Island to compete in the Art Carmichael Invitational (Sept. 8-9). NU will open play on Friday against the host Rams before closing out its final road tournament of the season with a Saturday doubleheader against Columbia and Marist.
The Huskies will make their 2017 Cabot Center debut on Tuesday, Sept. 12, with a 7 p.m. home match against their regional foe, New Hampshire. NU will look then to string successive victories together against the four-time defending America East champions, having prevailed against the Wildcats during a four-set match at UNH last September.
Northeastern will continue its six-match home stand and cap its non-conference schedule by hosting the New England Challenge at Cabot Center from Sept. 15 to Sept. 17. NU, which went undefeated during this event last season, will entertain Harvard (Sept. 15), Boston College (Sept. 16), and UMass Lowell (Sept. 17) on consecutive days.
Transitioning to conference play, Northeastern will begin its CAA home-and-home round robin with a pair of home matches against UNCW (Sept. 22) and College of Charleston (Sept. 24). NU will return to Cabot Center on Oct. 5 to begin a three-match home stand, featuring the defending league champion, James Madison (Oct. 7). The Huskies will conclude their home calendar with matches against three conference tournament teams from a year ago: Delaware (Oct. 27), Towson (Oct. 29), and Hofstra (Nov. 8).
Upon closing the regular-season at James Madison on Friday, Nov. 10, Northeastern will await qualification to the 2017 CAA tournament, featuring the league's top six regular-season finishers.
Nichols is optimistic the Huskies can achieve success during the course of its 2017 schedule.
"We are in good position for a schedule like this one because of our balanced depth, after it seemed last season most injuries came in the one position without it. We have addressed all the critical needs with a lineup of great volleyball schools, a home tournament, west-coast recruiting exposure, and plenty of regional competition. With the CAA having its best season ever nationally last year, we should be well positioned for success again this time around."
TICKETS
All tickets to home matches at Cabot Center are free and seating is general admission. All times listed on Northeastern's 2017 season schedule are Eastern and subject to change.
