Jan. 13, 2006

2006 WCU Volleyball Schedule
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Cullowhee, N.C. - Second-year head volleyball coach Stephanie Dragan today released Western Carolina's 2006 volleyball schedule, which features 13 home dates, four in-season tournaments including the return of the Catamount Clash, and culminates with the Southern Conference Championships in mid-November in Boone, N.C.

"Once again, we have a strong schedule, but I wouldn't have it any other way," said Dragan. "We will face teams from the ACC, SEC, Conference USA, and the MAC, not to mention Valparaiso who did have success in the NCAA Tournament. Playing a tougher preseason schedule will hopefully help prepare us for our SoCon play and having the championship event closer to home will hopefully allow our fans will make that trip up the mountain to support us."

Western opens play in late August, on the road in tournament action at the Univ. of Mississippi in Oxford where Dragan will square off against a familiar face. Molly Alvey, a former student-athlete at Centre College, played under Dragan for three seasons, is an assistant coach at Southeastern Conference-member, Ole Miss. One week later, Western will continue its tough opening act, traveling to Clemson in tournament action featuring the host Tigers, Charlotte, and another SEC-foe, the Georgia Bulldogs. The final road tournament is scheduled for Sept. 8-9 at Morehead State in Kentucky.

On Sept. 15-16, Western will host a tournament for the first time since 2003, entertaining a tournament-record four teams in the five-team field of the Catamount Clash V. Started in 1998, the fifth-installment of the event will feature High Point, Kennesaw State, Kent State and Valparaiso in two days of action in the Ramsey Center. WCU, which holds a 10-2 overall mark in the event, has claimed three of the previous four tournament titles, winning it out right in 2001 and 2003, and finishing tied with a 2-1 tourney record with Tennessee in 2002, but claimed the hardware by virtue of its head-to-head victory over the Volunteers.

"I am excited to host this tournament and we will have competitive play the entire weekend," Dragan said. "We will face teams that we would not normally play during the regular season. I like having home tournaments and playing hostess. This will be the first time that I will have the opportunity to showcase Western and our incredible facilities to teams that have never been to Cullowhee."

Following the home tournament, Western's final remaining non-conference match is a Halloween visit to former SoCon-member, East Tennessee State, on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

Due to Southern Conference scheduling, Western will play each team in the league twice, home and away, during the regular season with the exceptions of Davidson and arch-rival, Appalachian State. The Catamounts open SoCon play in late September with three-consecutive home dates as Chattanooga, Elon, and UNC Greensboro all visit Cullowhee between Sept. 20-24. WCU's lone regular season match with Appalachian State will be in Boone on the Sept. 27.

Western will become "road warriors" during the month of October as seven of the 11 scheduled matches, including five-straight from Oct. 14 through Oct. 21, will be played away from the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center. The month opens with the longest in-conference road trip to Statesboro, Ga., to face Georgia Southern, followed by three of the four monthly home contests as defending SoCon champion, College of Charleston, The Citadel, and Davidson visit, with the latter marking the lone meeting of the season. The five-game road swing begins at Wofford on Oct. 14 and includes stops at Furman (Oct. 15), Chattanooga (Oct. 17), UNC Greensboro (Oct. 20), and Elon (Oct. 21).

The regular season concludes with back-to-back home dates versus Wofford and Furman on Nov. 10 and 12. The Southern Conference Championships will be held in Boone, N.C., hosted by Appalachian State Nov. 16-19.