SMCC Volleyball Announces 2021 Schedule
PHOENIX ---
The South Mountain Community College women's volleyball team has released its 2021 fall schedule, head coach Melissa Hess announced. The Cougars will return to the court for the first time since Nov. 1, 2019, with a slate of 30 matches, including a pair of preseason tournaments in addition to a return to Arizona Community College Athletic Conference competition.
"We are excited to be able to participate in a full season once again, and we have been working so hard all summer to prepare for a challenging schedule," said Hess. "We will be competing against some of the top NJCAA Division I programs at New Mexico Military Institute and I'm looking forward to how that prepares us for ACCAC competition."
After an alumnae match on Aug. 6, SMCC starts their 2021 season with a scrimmage at NAIA foe Benedictine University-Mesa on Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. On Aug. 17, SMCC hosts another NAIA school, Park University-Gilbert, at home in a scrimmage at 6 p.m. That match will be streamed here.
Editor's Note: Due to a coronavirus vaccine event at the SMCC gymnasium on Friday, Aug. 13, the match against Benedictine has been moved to Mesa Community College and will begin at 10 a.m.
From there, the Cougars travel to Roswell, N.M. for a tournament at the New Mexico Military Institute on Aug. 20-21. SMCC will face Navarro College, Vernon College, Tyler College and Salt Lake City CC.
The Cougars return to their ACCAC competition at the end of August, traveling for matches at Glendale CC (Aug. 24) and Pima CC (Aug. 25). SMCC posted a road win at the Gauchos in 2018 and has won eight of the last nine matches against the Aztecs.
The month of September opens with a pair of ACCAC home matches as the Cougars square off with Chandler-Gilbert CC (Sept. 1) and Scottsdale CC (Sept. 9). From there, SMCC heads to a preseason tournament at the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas.
September continues with a home match against Park University-Gilbert (Sept. 14) and Glendale CC (Sept. 17). From there, the Cougars travel to Phoenix College (Sept. 22) and then face Mesa CC, Pima CC and Chandler-Gilbert CC in a non-conference, two-day event on the CGCC campus. SMCC closes out the month with an ACCAC match at Mesa CC on Sept. 29.
October opens with an ACCAC match at Arizona Western on Oct. 1, and SMCC then returns home for league matches against Yavapai College (Oct. 5) and Pima CC (Oct. 6). The Cougars then travel to Chandler-Gilbert CC (Oct. 8), host the Grand Canyon University club team (Oct. 11) and then travel to Scottsdale CC (Oct. 13) for their final road match of the season.
SMCC closes out the 2021 season with three home matches, facing Mesa CC (Oct. 15), Eastern Arizona (Oct. 20) and Phoenix College (Oct. 27).
The ACCAC Region I Division II tournament will be held November 4-6 at the top seed's gymnasium, and the NJCAA Division II National Championships are in Charleston, W. Va., from November 18-20.
