Rachel Essner
Contributing Writer
After COVID-19 halted sports, the Murray State volleyball team is not set to play a 16 game season against opponents in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Coach David Schwepker, entering his 23rd season as a coach, shared the schedule, setting to start in February 2021.
Each game will be played with a travel partner team, with Murray State partnering with Austin Peay. This means when Murray State plays a team on Sunday, Austin Peay will play that team on Monday, and the team Austin Peay plays on Sunday, Murray State will play on Monday. In addition, there will be occasional midweek games against Murray State’s travel partner.
The season beginner will be on Feb. 2 or Feb. 3 against Austin Peay in its home gym for the First Financial Bank Battle of the Border contest.
The home opener for the Racers is Feb. 8 and they will host Eastern Kentucky University.
On Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 Murray State will travel away to play Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
Then, the Racers will travel back home for two back-to-back weekends in the Racer Arena. The team will take on Southeast Missouri and UT Martin the weekend of Feb. 21 and Feb. 22. The following weekend they will face off against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 28 and Jacksonville State on March 1.
The team will continue its season by traveling down to Nashville, Tennessee, on March 7 and March 8 to play Tennessee State and Belmont followed by a midweek game (March 9 or 10) against Austin Peay in the Racer Arena. The week will be finished with a game at Morehead State on March 15.
The Racers will again face Eastern Illinois on March 21 and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on March 22 in Racer Arena.
To finish up the regular season, the Racers will hit the road to play against UT Martin and Southeast Missouri on March 28 and March 29.
The OVC tournament has not yet been determined and will be announced at a later date.