June 14, 2002

Santa Barbara, Calif. - On Friday the UCSB women's volleyball team announced its 2002 regular season schedule, featuring 13 matches against teams which qualified for the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

The Gauchos open their 28th season under legendary head coach Kathy Gregory on Friday, Aug. 30 at the 2002 SDSU Invitational against Florida International, an NCAA participant a year ago. Host school San Diego State, which also advanced to the Big Dance in 2001, UCSB's final opponent in the tourney on Aug. 31.

After playing in the Fresno State Invitational Sept. 6-7, Santa Barbara heads east for arguably its toughest two-day stretch of the upcoming season at the Duke Invitational. The Gauchos will look to avenge a 2001 loss to perennial power Wisconsin on Sept. 13 before facing Duke and American the following day. All three squads won their respective conference titles and earned automatic bids into the NCAA Tournament a season ago.

Big West Conference play begins the following weekend as UCSB hosts Cal State Northridge (Sept. 20) and longtime rival Pacific (Sept. 21) in the Thunderdome. The Gauchos will play two matches each against NCAA qualifiers UOP, Utah State and Long Beach State - which finished as the national runner-up - in league action. The always-competitive "Battle on the Beach" vs. the 49ers takes place in the Thunderdome on Friday, Oct. 25.

Unlike 2001, which saw Santa Barbara play all 12 of its non-conference matches on the road mainly due to resurfacing of the Thunderdome court, the Gauchos face regional rivals Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and USC at home this season. UCSB closes the 2002 regular season on Nov. 26 against the Trojans, who feature two All-Americans from last year's Final Four team.

UCSB is coming off a 17-14 season in 2001 in which it remained one of only four programs to qualify for every NCAA Tournament dating back to its inception in 1981. In addition, the Gauchos finished third in the highly-competitive Big West with a 14-4 conference record. Santa Barbara returns five starters and nine letterwinners in 2002, including two-time All-Big West First Team middle blocker Danielle Bauer, who needs 505 kills in her final campaign to rank second all-time at UCSB in that category. The Gauchos will also feature senior setter Brooke Niles and junior outside hitter Erica Menzel, who have each garnered all-conference acclaim twice in their careers.

The complete 2002 UCSB women's volleyball schedule can be viewed by clicking on the "Schedule/Results" link at the top of this page.