The volleyball team will open its season in Tallahassee, Fla., competing in the Florida State Invitational.

“All three teams down at the tournament are going to be pretty good,” said coach Erik Olson. “It will be a good test and we are going to have to be ready to play good ball right away.”

The host Seminoles swept the competition last season, dropping only one set in three games. CMU did not compete in the invitational last year, opting instead for the Virginia Commonwealth Tournament. CMU will open the tournament against North Dakota State on Friday, August 28.

The season will finish with two home matches, including one against defending Mid-American Conference West champion Western Michigan.

“Our attendance against Western is always one of our best,” Olson said. “I think we will be playing our best ball by that time in the season. We always play our best against Western Michigan … it will be good for us to head into the playoffs playing our best ball.”

The Chippewas split a two-match series against WMU last season and fell just two matches short of winning the MAC West.

Western Michigan fell one game short of a MAC Tournament title, losing to Ohio in the finals. The Broncos went on to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, before losing to the 2008 National champion Penn State Nittany Lions.

Central will have a chance to avenge last season’s loss to the University of Illinois-

Chicago. The loss was the first in program history to UIC.

CMU ended its season last year in the MAC quarterfinals, losing 3-1 to Bowling Green. It finished the year with a 19-10 regular season record, 12-4 in the MAC.

Central will open its conference play with two matches, one on the road, against defending MAC champion Ohio. The Chippewas lost in three straight sets the last time it made the trip to Athens.

Olson pointed toward the long stretches of consecutive home games and road games on the schedule.

“Clearly this schedule is quite unique,” Olson said. “We play at home in early October and then we don’t come back until near the end of the month. That is going to be a tough stretch for us, but last season our away record was pretty good.”

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E-mail the author: D.J. Palomares