DURHAM, N.C. — The Lady Eagles will play 23 regular-season matches during the upcoming fall season as second-year head coach Jody Brown announced the 2017 North Carolina Central University volleyball schedule on Wednesday.
The slate will feature 10 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) matches and 13 non-conference tilts.
NCCU’s first nine contests will be played over the course of three weekend tournaments.
The Lady Eagles will open up the campaign with a trio of matches at the Campbell University Invitational on Friday–Saturday, Sept. 26-27. NCCU will follow that trend for two more weeks with three weekend games apiece at the Runnin’ Bulldog Classic hosted by Gardner-Webb University (Sept. 1-2) and the Phoenix Classic hosted by Elon University (Sept. 8-9).
NCCU’s early-season competition at those neutral sites will include The Citadel, Tennessee Tech University, Wofford College, USC Upstate, Norfolk State University and Charleston Southern University.
The Lady Eagles will make their home debut against Gardner-Webb on Tuesday, Sept. 12 in the first of eight matches scheduled to be contested inside McDougald-McLendon Arena.
NCCU will round out non-conference play with a home-and-away series against East Carolina University, playing in Greenville on Sept. 19 and at home on Halloween. The maroon and gray will also host Elon on Oct. 3.
MEAC play will once again consist of 10 matches, playing the other five Southern Division rivals in home-and-away series. The Lady Eagles will begin league play by hosting local archrival North Carolina A&T on Thursday, Sept. 28, which will also start a four-match homestand as the calendar flips into October. NCCU will visit the Aggies on Oct. 27. The Lady Eagles final four home MEAC matches will be against South Carolina State University (Oct. 6), Savannah State University (Oct. 8), Florida A&M University (Nov. 10) and Bethune-Cookman University (Nov. 12).
Six of NCCU’s eight home matches are on weeknights and those half dozen showdowns will all begin at 6 p.m. Admission is free for all home contests.
The Lady Eagles will also embark on a four-match league road swing that will include three matches in four days against the Rattlers in Tallahassee, Florida, the Wildcats in Daytona Beach, Florida, and the Lady Tigers in Savannah, Georgia.
The 2017 MEAC Championship will return to the campus of University of Maryland Eastern Shore (MDES) in Princess Anne on the weekend of Friday–Sunday, Nov. 17–19. The top four teams from both the Northern and Southern Divisions will qualify for postseason play in the tourney quarterfinals.
For the most current volleyball schedule and news, fans are encouraged to visit the NCCU Athletics Official Website at NCCUEaglePride.com.