Lehigh University Athletics
Bertucci excited about 2011 schedule
8/9/2011 5:00:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Lehigh head women's volleyball coach Bob Bertucci has announced the team's upcoming 2011 schedule, which includes a competitive slate against a variety of conferences. The Mountain Hawks play a pair of Big East and Atlantic 10 foes, including Bertucci's former team, the Temple Owls, who he coached for 16 seasons. Lehigh plays the seven other Patriot League squads, once at home and once on the road.
“All our contests - league and non-league - are at our competitive level,” said Bertucci. “Every match is a 50-50 match or tougher. I think it will be a very competitive schedule for us.”
The Mountain Hawks face a trio of 20-game winners from a year ago: James Madison (22-8), Syracuse (23-9) and Patriot League Champion American (29-3). Lehigh put forth a valiant effort against the Eagles at home last season, falling 25-23 in all three sets against an American squad that took UCLA to five sets in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The season opens up on Aug. 31 when the Mountain Hawks head to Rider for a 7 p.m. showdown. Lehigh will then compete in the James Madison Invitational the first weekend of September to face James Madison on Friday and Robert Morris and Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
After a mid-week trip to NJIT, the squad heads to Long Island to play in the Long Island Invitational, which features Temple, Long Island and Syracuse. It will be a special match for Bertucci, who has spent 16 of his 32 seasons as collegiate head coach with the Owls.
Meanwhile, Syracuse marks the first of two Big East foes as the Mountain Hawks trek to Rutgers only three days later (Sept. 13) to face the Scarlet Knights. That marks the last of nine straight road matches to begin the season.
“You always want to play at home if you can,” said Bertucci. “Teams generally play better at home. They're more comfortable, in a favorable environment. I'm not crazy that we're on the road so much at the beginning of the year, but we'll make the best of it.”
Lehigh returns to the Lehigh Valley for its home opener on Sept. 16 when it teams with Lafayette to host the Lehigh/Lafayette Tournament. Four other squads (Hartford, La Salle, Princeton and Saint Francis) will take part, with matches being held in Bethlehem and Easton. On Friday (Sept. 16), Princeton plays Hartford at Leeman-Turner Arena following by Lehigh against Saint Francis. Saturday features a tripleheader; the Mountain Hawks host Princeton and La Salle, in the first and last matches of the day (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) while La Salle and Princeton square off in between.
“It's a unique tournament, what we do with Lafayette,” said Bertucci. “It's a cooperative tournament where we're hosting half the event and they're hosting half the event and we just trade opponents between the two schools.”
The Mountain Hawks round out their nonleague slate when they travel to Saint Peter's on Sept. 20. The league schedule begins the following weekend with a pair of home matches, against Army and Holy Cross. It will be a reunion of sorts against Army as the Black Knights' head coach (Alma Kovaci) was an All-American under Bertucci at Temple.
Lehigh's other home Patriot League matchups include: Lafayette (Oct. 7), Navy (Oct. 14), American (Oct. 15), Bucknell (Nov. 4) and Colgate (Nov. 5). Following a three-game homestand, the Mountain Hawks hit the road for the second half of October when they travel to Holy Cross, Army and Lafayette with a nonleague match at Delaware State in between.
Following their final two home games, Lehigh will head south for two crucial road games at American and Navy, which could prove significant in the postseason picture.
“I think we're all excited to get going,” said Bertucci. “We feel like we got some things accomplished, even in the short time we had together in the spring. I'm excited about the team. I think we have a really good team that's eager to work hard and train.
“They'll be a year older,” he continued. “We're going into the season with pretty much exactly the team we had in the spring, with a couple additions. I feel pretty good about the group; it's one of the most cohesive groups I've ever seen. They have great team chemistry and are driven to be successful. They're ready to get after it.”
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Friday, October 10
Volleyball vs. American
Saturday, October 04
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