May 19, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The JU volleyball team's road back to the Atlantic Sun Championship will start Aug. 29 in Statesboro, Ga. as the Dolphins announced their 2008 schedule on Monday.

The Dolphins will face three NCAA Tournament teams including perennial top 10 ranked Florida -- who the Dolphins face on Sept. 5 in Gainesville, Fla.

"We've put together a challenging schedule right from the start this year," said head coach Shaun Kupferberg. "Our first tournament is filled with teams that are on the rise and the second weekend we play Florida and Florida A&M, who are both in the NCAA tournament every year."

JU will play two tournaments before heading into the meat of its schedule starting with the Georgia Southern Tournament in Statesboro against UCF and Presbyterian. Another road tourney for the Dolphins will be the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational Tournament in Gainesville against the Gators and Rattlers on Sept. 6.

With a double round-robin format instituted in the A-Sun, JU will play a 20-match conference schedule beginning with a road trip against cross-town rival North Florida on Sept. 6.

The Dolphins will host 10 A-Sun matches at Swisher Gymnasium, including a rematch against Lipscomb on Sept. 27. JU will be seeking revenge after the Bisons knocked off the Dolphins to win the 2007 A-Sun title.

The Dolphins will also showcase games against conference power Belmont (Sept. 26), UNF (Oct. 28) and the regular-season finale against A-Sun regular-season champion Florida Gulf Coast (Nov. 15).

"This year we're making a big change in our conference to a double round-robin format," said Kupferberg. "I like the opportunity to develop rivalries with some of the schools in our conference and I think that will lead to some fun and more intense games in the tournament."

In Kupferberg's second season at JU, the Dolphins finished the 2007 season with the most wins (19) since 1997 and tied for the most conference wins (8). JU earned back-to-back trips to the A-Sun finals and finished with a seven-match winning streak, the most under Kupferberg,