CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball program released its 2023 schedule on Tuesday (June 27), which is highlighted by 14 home matches in Memorial Gymnasium.

Under the direction of third-year head coach Shannon Wells, Virginia opens its 45th season by hosting Rider (Aug. 25) at the Cavalier Classic, a four-team winner’s bracket tournament, in the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Rutgers and North Carolina A&T are the other two participating teams.

The following weekend, Virginia travels to New York, N.Y., for Columbia’s Big Apple Tournament, which features Quinnipiac (Sept. 1) in addition to the Lions (Sept. 2).

UVA hosts Old Dominion (Sept. 5) in a midweek matchup before beginning action at the DMV Invitational. The Cavaliers open tournament play at Howard (Sept. 8) and will challenge Coastal Carolina (Sept. 9) at UMBC before facing the Retrievers (Sept. 10) in a true road match the next day.

Virginia returns to Mem Gym for the Jefferson Cup, which will also follow a winner’s bracket format. The Cavaliers host Norfolk State (Sept. 15) before challenging either George Washington or Wofford on Sept. 16 to round out non-conference action.

The Cavaliers’ ACC home slate consists of Syracuse (Sept. 29), Boston College (Oct. 1), Clemson (Oct. 6), Georgia Tech (Oct. 8), Wake Forest (Oct. 27), Virginia Tech (Oct. 29), Notre Dame (Nov. 12), Duke (Nov. 17) and NC State (Nov. 22).

To kick off ACC action, UVA travels to the Tar Heel State to face North Carolina (Sept. 22) and Duke (Sept. 24). The Cavaliers’ other ACC road contests include Notre Dame (Oct. 13), Louisville (Oct. 15), Pittsburgh (Oct. 18), NC State (Oct. 22), Miami (Nov. 3), Florida State (Nov. 5) before concluding the season at Virginia Tech (Nov. 25) in a bout for the Commonwealth Clash, presented by Smithfield.

Broadcast designations, including matches on ACC Network, will post to VirginiaSports.com once announced by the ACC and ESPN. Start times are subject to change based on broadcast selections.

Admission to all 2023 home Virginia volleyball regular-season matches in Mem Gym is free to the public.

Noting the 2023 Schedule

  • This year’s slate features seven 2022 NCAA Tournament teams in Quinnipiac, UMBC, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Miami and Florida State.
  • Quinnipiac (MAAC), UMBC (America East), Pitt (ACC) and Louisville (ACC) all won at least a share of their respective conference championships last year.
  • UVA’s schedule features nine 2022 AVCA Top 100 teams, five of which were also top 50 teams.
  • For the first time in program history, the Cavaliers will face Rider and Quinnipiac. Given the winner’s bracket format of the Jefferson Cup, an inaugural matchup with Wofford is also possible.
  • Virginia returns nine players from its 2022 roster, including Brooklyn Borum, GG Carvacho, Kate Johnson, Ashley Le, Madison Morey, Abby Tadder, Heyli Velasquez, Chloe Wilson and Veresia Yon.
  • The Cavaliers welcome seven newcomers in Lauryn Bowie (Westerville South HS), Nala Cornegy (Episcopal HS), Lily Gervase (Harnett Central HS), Milan Gomillion (Maryland), Cierra Hecht (Texas A&M), Meredith Reeg (Cardinal Gibbons HS) and Regan Trueblood (Illinois Springfield).