INDIANAPOLIS -- The IUPUI Department of Athletics and head volleyball coach Steve Payne have announced the team’s schedule for the upcoming 2009 season.  The Jaguars will be hosting the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational for the fourth consecutive year and will take on three teams which reached the NCAA Tournament in 2008.

IUPUI will open play will their traditional alumni match before beginning the regular season in Peoria, Ill., at the Bradley University Invitational.  The Jaguars will face Lehigh, Chicago State, USC-Upstate and host Bradley over the two-day tournament.

The following weekend, the Jaguars will open their home slate of matches with the fourth annual IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational, which runs September 5-6 over Labor Day weekend.  In their first match of the year, the Jaguars will face the Lady Toppers of Western Kentucky University, who won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament a year ago to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.  Payne’s squad will face Big Ten member Northwestern later in the day before hosting Miami University, who received an at-large bid to the 2008 NCAA Tournament, on Sunday.

“Our opening tournaments will be very challenging and prepare us for Summit League play,” Payne stated.  “We will be facing some tough competition from around the Midwest and each team we play will be at or near the top of their respective conferences this year.”

As part of a schedule that will see the Jaguars take on five teams from Indiana, IUPUI will host Butler (Sept. 9) and Ball State (Sept. 15).  The Jags will travel to Indiana State (Sept. 19), take on Valparaiso (Oct. 20) and see IPFW twice in Summit League play.

IUPUI will begin Summit League play with a match against Western Illinois on Sept. 12 before entering into the teeth of conference play the following weekend.  Included in the conference slate of games is a home-and-home with Southern Utah, who will be taking part in their introductory season in Summit League volleyball.  The Summit League Tournament will be in Fargo, N.D., Nov. 20-21.

The Jaguars return all six starters to a squad that returned to The Summit League Tournament in 2008.  Junior Rachel Holmes will lead the Jaguars, who led the nation in digging in 2008, on the back row, while seniors Monica Suding, Danielle Goodnight, Ashley Johnson, junior Lauran Thompson and sophomore Kalyse Reimbold will be counted on up front.

For the complete schedule, click here.