RMAC Crossover highlights 2006 Volleyball schedule

The Adams State College volleyball team will play nine matches against teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament.

ALAMOSA, Colo.— Adams State College will host five other Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams in a RMAC Crossover Tournament on Sept. 8-9, one of the highlights of the 2006 schedule that has been announced by coach Lindy Mortensen. The Grizzlies will face RMAC East Division foes Colorado Mines, Colorado Christian and Regis in that tournament, which will be held at both Plachy Hall and Alamosa High School. New Mexico Highlands and Western State will also make the trip playing the same three teams.

The RMAC schedule was condensed from nine to eight weeks this year because of the NCAA Division II Fall Sports Festival in Pensacola, Fla. where champions in six fall sports will be crowned in an Olympic-style festival atmosphere. That event, which cuts a week out of the normal volleyball calendar, forced RMAC officials to realign the schedule. The crossover tournament format that was adopted will allow conference teams to play their seven interdivisional matches in two tournament-filled weekends rather than in the three that it took during the old format. Teams will still play home-and-home matches against the team’s within their division, thus preserving natural rivalries.

That crossover tournament will be ASC’s first home action of the year. The Grizzlies begin the season on Aug. 25 and 26 at the Westminster Tournament in Salt Lake City. The exact schedule for that classic-style tournament has not been finalized although Mortensen knows that California Baptist, the 2005 NAIA National Champion, will be in the loaded field.

The Grizzlies then travel to Golden to compete in the Days Inn-Denver West Oredigger Classic hosted by Colorado Mines on Sept. 1 and 2. The Grizzlies will face four Division II foes in those two days including, Slippery Rock (Pa.) and Wayne State (Neb.), both of which advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

After hosting the crossover, the Grizzlies start intradivisional play on the road at RMAC newcomer Western New Mexico on Sept. 15. The Mustangs won the Heartland Conference title in 2005 earning a berth into the NCAA Tournament. ASC also has Sept. 16 and 19 road matches at New Mexico Highlands and Colorado State-Pueblo before coming home for three matches in eight days.

ASC will then go to Kearney, Neb. for a second RMAC Crossover on Oct. 6 and 7 before hosting Colorado State-Pueblo on Tuesday, Oct. 10. Three more road matches follow for the Grizzlies, who will end the regular season with home tilts against New Mexico Highlands and Western New Mexico on Oct. 27 and 28.

The top eight RMAC teams will then compete in the RMAC Tournament, which begins on Nov. 2.

In total, the Grizzlies will play nine matches against teams that were in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

All of ASC’s nine home matches, except for a 11 a.m. match against Colorado Christian during the crossover, will begin at 7 p.m.

Related Item: Complete 2006 Schedule