WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary head volleyball coach Tim Doyle announced the program's 2019 schedule on Wednesday. The ledger includes four tournaments during the non-conference slate, featuring the Colonial Classic (Sept. 13-14) and 11 home matches.
 
"We have a great schedule laid out for our team," Doyle said. "It's the right blend of competitive yet winnable, and I'm confident our group will come in ready to take care of business. We have lots of younger players on the roster, so once they figure out how to gel together, that experience and cohesion will make them a tough machine to contend with. I'm excited to get in the gym and start getting after it."
 
The Colonial Classic highlights the non-conference portion of the schedule, Sept. 13-14. The weekend will also serve as the first Deb Hill Alumnae Reunion. Hill was one of the "founding mothers" of the modern women's athletic program at W&M, coaching the Tribe volleyball team for 30 years. A 2014 W&M Athletics Hall of Famer was a five-time CAA Coach of the Year and led W&M to a 587-413 record in that span. Her accomplishments included eight CAA Championships, including seven straight from 1985-91 and a 56-match conference-winning streak during that span, an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001, 12 seasons of 20 or more wins and three NIVC appearances (NIT tournament for volleyball).
 
W&M welcomes UNCG, reigning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champion Iona and Big East foe Georgetown to Kaplan Arena. The Green and Gold squares off with the Spartans in the nightcap at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, before hosting the Gaels, who won 20 matches last season, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14. W&M wraps up the event against the Hoyas, who finished last season at 17-13 and 10-8 in Big East play, at 7 p.m. on Saturday night.
 
The Tribe opens the slate with a pair of road tournaments at Morgan State and Xavier during the first two weekends of the 2019 campaign. W&M squares off with Quinnipiac (10 a.m.) and host Morgan State (7 p.m.) in the season-opening event in Baltimore, Md., on Friday, Aug. 30.
 
The following weekend, the Green and Gold heads to Cincinnati, Ohio, for a trio of contests against teams from the Buckeye State. W&M takes on Akron (11 a.m.) and Wright State (4 p.m.) on Friday, Sept. 6, before meeting the host Xavier on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 11 a.m. 
 
After the Colonial Classic, the Tribe wraps up the non-conference ledger with the short trip up I95 to take part in the George Mason Invitational. The Green and Gold meets its third Big East foe for the season in Seton Hall on Friday, Sept. 20, at 4 p.m. On Saturday, W&M takes on Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Wake Forest at 1:30 p.m. and closes out the event with the host Patriots at 7 p.m.
 
In Colonial Athletic Association play, the Tribe plays five of its first seven matches inside the friendly confines of Kaplan Arena. W&M hosts Northeastern (Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.) and defending league champion Hofstra (Sept. 29 at 1 p.m.) to kick off the league campaign.
 
After making the CAA's Southern swing to UNCW (Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.) and Charleston (Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.), the Green and Gold returns home for three matches in four days. The Tribe hosts Towson (Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.) and James Madison (Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.) on back-to-back days before welcoming Delaware to Williamsburg on Monday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m.
 
W&M plays a pair of three-match road swings around a trio at home to end league play. The Green and Gold heads to Elon on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 1 p.m., and the following week makes the CAA's northern-most trip to Hofstra (Oct. 26 at 1 p.m.) and Northeastern (Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.).
 
The Tribe plays its final three home matches of the regular season over a five-day stretch to end October and start the month of November. W&M hosts Elon on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., before welcoming Charleston (Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.) and UNCW (Nov. 3 at 1 p.m.) to start the 11th month of the year.
 
The following weekend, the Green and Gold starts its regular-season ending road trip at Delaware on Friday, Nov. 8, at 6:30 p.m. and James Madison on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m. The Tribe closes out the campaign at Towson on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 1 p.m.
 
The top six finishers in the league standings will compete in the 2019 CAA Championship at the David S. Mack Physical Education Center on Hofstra's campus, Nov. 21-24. The top two seeds earn an opening-round bye with the tournament champion receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 
 
The Tribe will feature a young but talented group in 2019. In total, 11 of the Tribe's 14 players are freshmen or sophomores, while the Green and Gold returns its top six players in terms of points and kills. Autumn Brenner leads the Tribe as its lone senior and has already established a school record (in the current scoring era) for assists. Juniors Julia Brown and Kate Dedrick along with sophomore Claire Farrell are the team's top returners in points and kills. Brown led the team in points, hitting percentage and blocks per set in 2018, while Farrell was a CAA All-Rookie selection a season ago and led the team with 210 kills (2.44 per set).