April 8, 2003

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara women's volleyball team will host its annual Spring Tournament in the Thunderdome this Saturday, April 12.

Each of the 15 participating teams will play either three or four matches, consisting of two games to 30 points in rally scoring format. There will be no official scoring at this event, and no tournament championship will be awarded. Current NCAA rules along with recent changes for the 2003 season will be used, most notably that the libero can now serve.

Four matches will run concurrently on the Thunderdome floor. Defending Big West Conference Champion UCSB will take on Utah at 8:30 a.m., Kansas at 11:00 a.m., Oregon State at 1:30 p.m., and finish up with a highly-anticipated match against Pepperdine at 4:00 p.m. Other schools participating in the tournament include Pittsburgh, Cal State Fullerton, Penn State, San Francisco, UC Irvine, Cal, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, Cal Poly and Colorado.

Admission to the UC Santa Barbara Spring Tournament is free, and all matches should conclude by 5:15 p.m.

The Gauchos are scheduled to open the 2003 regular season at the Long Beach Invitational, Aug. 29-30.