EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Ohio Valley Conference released the 2023 conference schedule Thursday morning with University of Southern Indiana Volleyball hosting nine matches at Screaming Eagles Arena this season. The 18-match season will take place over a nine-week period, ending with the conference championship in late November.
The Screaming Eagles take flight on Monday, September 18 at Eastern Illinois University to face the Panthers in a home-and-home match. USI will then host EIU on Tuesday, September 26 to close out the series.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will kick off the Eagles’ home portion of the conference schedule on Friday, September 22 and Saturday, September 23. The entire home conference schedule will follow with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (October 6 & 7), Tennessee Tech University (November 3 & 4), and University of Tennessee at Martin (November 15 & 16).
The Eagles will be on the road against the reigning OVC Champion, Tennessee State University, on Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30. USI will continue the stretch with Morehead State University (October 13 &14), OVC’s newest inductee of Western Illinois University (October 20 & 21), and Lindenwood University (November 10 & 11).
The newly formatted conference schedule will feature one bye week for every member with USI’s being October 27 & 28. With the schedule ending a week later than normal, the OVC Championship will take place for three days at the discretion of the host. That event could be played Sunday thru Tuesday or Monday thru Wednesday, or split over the Thanksgiving break (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday or Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) if necessary.
The Eagles will hit the court for USI’s second season in NCAA Division I play after finishing 2022 with a 1-28 overall record, going 1-17 in the Ohio Valley Conference and missing out on the postseason tournament.
USI will welcome newly hired head coach Jeffrey Aucoin as the 13th head coach in USI Volleyball program history. Aucoin takes over the reins of the Eagles after spending 10 years at Harvard University’s women’s volleyball program as an assistant coach.
