photo by Bryan College
Bryan College volleyball head coach Jessica Day announced the Lions' 2019 schedule, which will begin with two pre-season tournaments followed by 23 regular-season matches, 11 of which will be played on Bryan's home-court in Summers Gymnasium.
The Lions are coming off a 2018 season where the team went 11-19 overall and 7-12 in Appalachian Athletic Conference play, placing seventh in the AAC's north division standings.
Bryan's volleyball team also impressed in the classroom, as they were recognized when the department released the Spring Athletic Honor Roll. The team had 19 record a grade-point average of 3.3 or higher, which was out of 23 total on the roster. The 82.61 percent that made the cut was the second-highest percentage in the athletic department. Their academic efforts also gave way to earning the titles of 2018-19 NAIA Scholar-Team and AVCA Academic Team.
Bryan's first action will be a road trip far north to Dearborn, Mich. where the Lions will compete in the University of Michigan Dearborn's 2019 Early Bird Classic pre-season event, taking place at the UM-Dearborn Fieldhouse Aug. 23-24. Just a few days later, the squad returns home to play host to several schools in the annual pre-season Bryan Bash Tournament, scheduled Aug. 30-31.
When September rolls around, so does regular-season and conference play, as Milligan College pays the Lions a visit on the 5th. Bryan remains at home on the 7th for another AAC bout, this time against Bluefield College (Va.). On Sept. 10, the Lions will get a look at their first away match of the regular-season when they hit the road for Montreat, N.C. to take on conference foe Montreat College. Three AAC clashes follow with two home contests on Sept. 13 and 14 versus Truett McConnell University (Ga.) and Brenau University (Ga.) and a road matchup with Union College (Ky.) on the 17th.
The first of just three regular-season non-conference games for the Lions will be on the road Sept. 19 at Southern States Athletic Conference member Martin Methodist College (Tenn.). The only tri-match that Bryan has lined up is in Grayson, Ky., as the newest AAC associate Kentucky Christian University plays host to the Lions and River States Conference opponent Ohio Christian University on Sept. 21. Bryan returns to work in the AAC to close out the month of Sept. with away matches at Columbia International University (S.C.) on the 27th and St. Andrews University (N.C.) on the 28th.
10 of 11 games in the month of Oct. are against AAC challengers, as the Lions enter the heart of conference play. Bryan hosts conference rival Tennessee Wesleyan University on Oct. 1, travels to Milligan on the 4th, has an outing on the 5th at Bluefield, and briefly comes back to campus to face-off with Montreat on the 8th. The Lions have two more away matchups at Point University (Ga.) on Oct. 11 and at reigning AAC regular-season and tournament champion Reinhardt University (Ga.) on Oct. 12 (ranked top-25 in the NAIA's post-season poll) before a four-game homestand beginning the 15th. Union comes to Dayton on Oct. 15, Kentucky Christian the 19th, Allen University (S.C.) the 25th, and Columbia College (S.C.) the 26th. The Lions' conference finale will be at neighboring rival Tennessee Wesleyan on Oct. 29 followed by the last regular-season match at home in their second look at Martin Methodist on the 31st. With the regular-season complete, Bryan will be anticipating a spot in the AAC tournament and preparing for the event that is slated to begin Nov. 13 in Kingsport, Tenn.
The planned competitions scheduled for Bryan before the official start of the regular-season, as well as, a strong incoming group to add to an already talented company of returners is sure to bolster the Lions as they take on their 2019 campaign. "I'm extremely excited and looking forward to our upcoming season," said Coach Day. "We have two pre-season tournaments that will challenge us and help us improve for conference play. We also have several new additions to our varsity roster, which will help us to be more competitive. I anticipate big things from this group and am thrilled to see what we are capable of."
To view the full 2019 volleyball schedule, click here.