For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

LADY BRONC VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE SET

EDINBURG, TX-Twelve home dates and matches against several regional powers highlight the fall 2003 schedule for The University of Texas-Pan American volleyball team.

The Lady Broncs will host ten regular season home matches and two exhibition matches in 2003.

Texas-El Paso of the Western Athletic Conference, New Mexico State of the Sun Belt Conference and Southwest Texas State of the Southland Conference will visit the UTPA Fieldhouse this fall. The Lady Broncs will also host fellow independents Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, as well as Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Area rivals Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M-International will join Incarnate Word as one of one of eight teams from the state of Texas to visit Texas-Pan American.

Prairie View A & M visits the UTPA Fieldhouse for the home opener September 2nd, while Southwest Texas State comes to Edinburg September 9th. Incarnate Word visits two weeks later, then New Mexico State begins a stretch of five consecutive home matches when they play the Lady Broncs on November 2nd. That home stand also includes visits by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-International and IPFW as well as the annual alumni match. The Lady Broncs host Texas Southern October 22nd and Texas-El Paso on Halloween, October 31st, before concluding their home schedule with an exhibition match against Liga Municipal Select of Reynosa November 1st and Texas A&M-Kingsville November 4th.

UTPA will begin participate in five tournaments. They open at Lamar's tournament, which includes the host Cardinals of the Southland Conference as well as Sun Belt foe North Texas. Stephen F. Austin's tournament the following weekend includes host SFA of the Southland, Louisiana-Lafayette of the Sun Belt and Tulsa of the WAC. UTPA will visit Texas Christian's tournament, which will also see them face Arkansas State of the Sun Belt as well as host TCU of Conference USA. The Lady Broncs will visit Prairie View A&M's tournament, which includes Arkansas-Pine Bluff of the SWAC, and they will finish their season at the Independent Tournament, which will include new Division I programs Northern Colorado and Utah Valley State as well as Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and host IPFW.

Texas-Pan American will also visit Texas-San Antonio of the Southland Conference, travel to in-state rivals Texas A&M-International and Texas A&M-Kingsville, and visit Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M of the SWAC. The Lady Broncs will play home-and-home against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and will play neutral site matches against Connecticut of the Big East and Southern of the SWAC at the Islanders' Moody Gymnasium.

"I'm very excited about our schedule," said UTPA Head Coach Dave Thorn. "We have some very strong teams coming here, such as Sun Belt Western Division champion New Mexico State and Southwest Texas State, which has been a traditional power in the Southland Conference. We are also playing in some great tournaments, like the tournaments at Texas Christian, Lamar, and Stephen F. Austin. We close the season at the Independent Tournament, which will be hosted by IPFW. Hopefully, we can win our third independent title in four years."

The Lady Broncs were 16-19 last season, and finished second at the Independent Tournament after winning the championship in each of the tournament's first two seasons.

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2003 TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE