The Robert Morris University volleyball team led by fourth-year head coach Rob Thomas, announced its 2006 schedule today. The Colonials are scheduled to play a 30-game schedule, including 10 home matches at the Charles L. Sewall Center.
The Colonials wrapped up the 2005 campaign with a 16-13 overall record and a 7-1 mark good enough for second place in the Northeast Conference.

The Colonials kick off the season at the Towson Tournament Aug. 26-27. RMU is slated to face Ohio State, Towson, and Morgan State during the two-day tournament.

Robert Morris is scheduled to play in five total tournaments before starting conference play Oct. 15. The other four tournaments are the Omni William Penn Invitational (Sept. 1-2), co-hosted by the Colonials along with Duquesne at the Sewall Center, the Gardner-Webb Tournament at Boiling Springs, N.C. (Sept. 8-9), the IPFW Invitational at Fort Wayne, Ind. (Sept. 22-23) and the Dartmouth Invitational in Hanover, N.H. (Sept. 29-30).

In between the Gardner-Webb Tournament and the IPFW Tournament RMU will host Pittsburgh on Tuesday Sept. 12. The Colonials will then travel to Cleveland State on Saturday, Sept. 16, before hosting Morgan State, Sunday Sept. 17.

Before opening the conference portion of the schedule, RMU will play three straight matches on the road: at West Virginia (Oct. 4), Duquesne (Oct. 10) and Seton Hall (Oct. 14).

RMU stays on the road to open conference play when they travel to Sacred Heart (Oct. 15) and St. Francis (Pa.) (Oct. 21).

The Colonials then come home for four straight conference matches, starting Oct. 28 when they host defending NEC champion Long Island. RMU will also host St. Francis (NY) (Oct. 29), Central Conn. St. (Nov. 4) and Quinnipiac (Oct.5) during its four game homestand.

Robert Morris concludes its schedule by traveling to Wagner (Oct.11) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Oct. 12).

The top six teams in the regular season standings will earn a right to play in the 2006 NEC Tournament, with the regular-season champion hosting the tournament. The winner of the six-team single elimination tournament will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Colonials have qualified for the NCAA Tournament six out of the last seven years.



Date Opponent Site Time
August
26 (Sat.) vs. Ohio State ! Baltimore, Md. 10:00 a.m.
26 (Sat.) @ Towson University ! Baltimore, Md. 6:30 p.m.
27 (Sun.) vs. Morgan State ! Baltimore, Md. 11:00 a.m.
September
1 (Fri.) DELAWARE STATE # Moon Township, Pa. 11:00 a.m.
1 (Fri.) IPFW # Moon Township, Pa. 7:00 p.m.
2 (Sat.) INDIANA STATE # Moon Township, Pa. 11:00 a.m.
2 (Sat.) ST. FRANCIS (Pa.) # Moon Township, Pa. 7:30 p.m.
8 (Fri.) vs. UNC-Greensboro $ Boiling Springs, N.C. 4:30 p.m.
9 (Sat.) @ Gardner-Webb $ Boiling Springs, N.C. 10:00 a.m.
9 (Sat.) vs. N.C. Central $ Boiling Springs, N.C. 3:00 p.m.
12 (Tues.) PITTSBURGH Moon Township, Pa. 7:00 p.m.
16 (Sat.) @ Cleveland State Cleveland, Ohio 7:00 p.m.
17 (Sun) MORGAN STATE Moon Township, Pa. 7:00 p.m.
22 (Fri.) vs. Texas Pan-American % Fort Wayne, Ind. 5:00 p.m.
23 (Sat.) @ IPFW % Fort Wayne, Ind. Noon
23 (Sat.) vs. South Dakota State % Fort Wayne, Ind. 5:00 p.m.
29 (Fri) vs. N.J. Inst. of Tech. ^ Hanover, N.H. 4:30 p.m.
30 (Sat.) vs. Harvard ^ Hanover, N.H. 11:00 a.m.
30 (Sat.) @ Dartmouth ^ Hanover, N.H. 5:00 p.m.
October
4 (Wed) @ West Virginia Morgantown, W. Va. 7:00 p.m.
10 (Tues.) @ Duquesne Pittsburgh, Pa. 7:00 p.m.
14 (Sat.) @ Seton Hall South Orange, N.J. 2:00 p.m.
15 (Sun.) @ Sacred Heart * Fairfield, Conn. 1:00 p.m.
21 (Sat.) @ St. Francis (Pa.) * Loretto, Pa. 1:00 p.m.
28 (Sat.) LONG ISLAND * Moon Township, Pa. 1:00 p.m.
29 (Sun.) ST. FRANCIS (Pa.) * Moon Township, Pa. 1:00 p.m.
November
4 (Sat.) CENTRAL CONN. St. * Moon Township, Pa. 1:00 p.m.
5(Sun) QUINNIPIAC * Moon Township, Pa. 1:00 p.m.
11 (Sat.) @ Wagner * Staten Island, N.Y. Noon
12 (Sun) @ Fairleigh Dickinson * Teaneck, N.J. 1:00 p.m.
18 (Sat.) NEC Tournament TBD TBA
19 (Sun) NEC Tournament TBD TBA




Home matches in bold and all CAPS
* Northeast Conference match
! Towson Tournament
# Omni William Penn Invitational
$ Gardner-Webb Tournament
% IPFW Tournament
^ Dartmouth Invitational
All home matches played at Charles L. Sewall Center