CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois Tech women's volleyball team is excited to announce its 2019 schedule. This year's slate features 28 total matches, seven matches in the Keating Sports Center, and a three-match tournament at Johnson and Wales University in Denver, Colorado from September 6-7.
After competing against Lewis & Clark College in last year's Oregon Trail Tournament, the Scarlet Hawks will oppose the Pioneers once again this season at the Johnson and Wales Tournament in Denver (September 6, 4:00 p.m. CT). Tech will also oppose Mills College (September 7, 4:00 p.m. CT) and host JWU (September 7, 8:00 p.m. CT) out west.
While the journey west is in the early portion of the schedule, Tech will prepare for Denver with four matches at Lake Forest College from August 30 through September 3. The weekend of the 30th will see the Scarlet Hawks open the season against host LFC (4:00 p.m.) and Loras College (6:00 p.m.) on August 30. The next day, the Scarlet Hawks will oppose St. Mary's College of Indiana at 1:00 p.m. to conclude the weekend tournament. Tech will then play one more non-conference match against the Foresters, whom the Scarlet Hawks have defeated each of the last three seasons, on Tuesday, September 3 at 7:00 p.m.
The 2019 home schedule opens up on Tuesday, September 10 with a 7:00 p.m. home match against North Central College. Following the NCC match will be a stretch of nine matches away from home (seven road, two neutral site contests). This includes Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tilts at Aurora University (September 18), Marian University (October 1), Rockford University (October 4), Edgewood College (October 5), and Lakeland University (October 8). Tech will also play a non-conference match at St. Mary of the Woods (September 27), oppose both Adrian College and Rose-Hulman in a tri-match at RHIT (September 28), and take on Maranatha Baptist following its match at Edgewood (October 5).
With its longest road trip in the rearview mirror, the women's volleyball team will return home to play four matches in the Keating Sports Center from October 11-18. Three of those will be conference contests: Concordia-Wisconsin (October 11), MSOE (October 12), and Wisconsin Lutheran College (October 18). October 12 is also a part of a tri-match that will also see Tech oppose St. Mary of the Woods for a second time.
Illinois Tech will once again hit the road for the home stretch of the schedule, as just two of the team's last seven regular season matches will take place in Keating. This portion of the schedule features true road NACC matches at Dominican (October 20) and Concordia-Chicago (October 22), neutral site non-conference tilts against Olivet College (October 20 at Dominican) and Kalamazoo College (October 26 at Wheaton), and a matchup against Wheaton College on October 26. Tech's final two home matches will take place on October 25 (Alverno) and October 30 (Benedictine).
The top six teams in the NACC will qualify for the team's postseason tournament, which determines who gets the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. This year's tournament will begin on Tuesday, November 5 and go through Thursday, November 9.
All of Tech's home matches will include live audio, video, and stats, with the live audio being powered by Illinois Media School.