The UCSB women’s volleyball team announced its 2022 schedule Wednesday afternoon.
The fall slate features four non-conference tournaments, including the team’s own UCSB Thunderdome Classic, and 10 Big West Conference matches to be played in the Thunderdome.
The Gauchos take the floor for the first time in late August as they head down to Los Angeles to face Loyola Marymount in an exhibition match on Aug. 20..
The regular season begins on the road with three-straight weekend tournaments. First is the joint-hosted Northern Colorado/Colorado State Tournament , set for Aug. 26-27, in which the Gauchos will face the two hosts and North Carolina to open the season.
The following weekend, UCSB returns to California to compete in the Pepperdine Asics Classic, which takes place Sept. 2-3.There the Gauchos will play a trio of tough teams in the host Waves, Baylor and San Diego State. Pepperdine and Baylor were both NCAA Tournament participants last season with the Bears advancing to the Sweet 16.
The final road tournament of the early slate is set for Sept. 9-10 at New Mexico State. Teams other than the host Aggies have yet to be announced.
Finally, the Gauchos return home to host the UCSB Thunderdome Classic from Sept. 16-17, which will be the team’s home opener and the conclusion of the non-conference season. Participating teams will be revealed at a later date.
Big West Conference play begins Sept. 23 with the Gauchos heading south to face UC San Diego and UC Irvine on back-to-back nights. UCSB then returns home for its conference home opener vs rival Cal Poly on Sept. 30 and the next-day hosts Cal State Bakersfield.
From there, the Gauchos will split time, going on the road every other weekend to play a pair of Big West teams and get a chance to host each of them as well. The remainder of the home matches include UC Riverside (Oct. 14), UC Davis (Oct. 15), UC Irvine (Oct. 27), UC San Diego (Oct 30), Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 11), Long Beach State (Nov. 12), CSUN (Nov. 22), and Hawai’i (Nov. 25).
Season tickets are now on sale at ucsbgauchos.com. All season ticket purchases come with an all-session pass to the UCSB Thunderdome Classic, providing access to every match of the tournament.
Single-match tickets will go on sale on Aug. 1.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
