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Volleyball Announces 2005 Schedule
July 22, 2005 ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine volleyball team has announced its 2005 schedule which includes 10 home matches and several road dates against teams from major conferences, including defending NCAA champion Stanford on Sept. 2. The Black Bears will kick off their season by playing host to the ASICS Invitational Aug. 26-27, in Memorial Gym. Maine will open tournament play at the ASICS on Friday as it faces Rhode Island. The Black Bears will conclude tournament play on Saturday with a pair of matches versus Fairfield and Montana. Following the Invitational, Maine will be on the road for three out of the next four weekends competing in various tournaments. The Black Bears will travel to Chestnut Hill, Mass., to compete in the Boston College Invitational Sept. 2-3, where they will face teams from the Big East and Pac-10 Conferences. The Black Bears will face Syracuse and then take on Stanford on Friday. Boston College will serve as the opposition for Maine on Saturday at the tournament. After an off weekend, Maine will hit the road again and travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take part in the TCU Invitational Sept. 16-17. The Black Bears will face TCU on Friday, while going up against Big Ten-foe Minnesota and Campbell on Saturday. Maine will close out its string of tournaments the following weekend as it competes in the Dartmouth Invitational (Saturday, Sept. 24) in Hanover, N.H. The Black Bears will face Harvard and close out play in the tournament with showdown against Dartmouth. The Black Bears then return home and swing into America East competition Friday, Sept. 30, as they play host to New Hampshire. The stay at home will be brief as they'll head back on the road for a match at UMBC on Sunday, Oct. 2, in Baltimore. Maine does return home the following Sunday (Oct. 9) as it will play host to Hartford. The Black Bears will be on the road, again, for the following two matches versus Binghamton (Friday, Oct. 14) and Stony Brook (Sunday, Oct. 16). Maine will return home Friday, Oct. 21, as it will face Albany in a rematch of the 2004 America East Tournament final, which the Great Danes won by a slim 3-2 margin. Consecutive road matches then follow for the Black Bears. They'll face Hartford on Sunday, Oct. 23, and then meet New Hampshire on the following Sunday (Oct. 30). The Black Bears will then head into November and the home stretch of the season with three of four matches to be held at Memorial Gym. Maine will face UMBC onThursday, Nov. 3, and then play host to Binghamton on Sunday, Nov. 6. After a road trip to Albany on Friday, Nov. 11, Maine will close out the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 13, with a match versus Stony Brook. The America East Tournament Semifinals and finals are scheduled to be held Nov. 18-19 at the home of the regular season champion.
Maine returns six letterwinners from the 2004 team, which posted a 17-11 record overall and a third-place regular season finish in the league.
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