Big Ten Announces 2021 Volleyball Schedule

East Lansing, Mich. -- The Big Ten Conference has announced the 2021 fall volleyball schedule, with a return to a 20-game season slate that brings teams back to 10 home and 10 road matches as it played prior to the interruption of the 2020-21 season.

See Full Spartan B1G Volleyball Schedule

"I think we are all happy that we're going to be able to return to a schedule format that we're familiar with, but most importantly that our season appears to be on track for some normalcy," said head coach Cathy George. "The last 18 months has been a challenge for so many, and we are so thankful to all of the hard work that has gone into us having a different-looking season this past spring but also helping us move forward into what we hope is a more familiar-looking fall 2021 campaign.

"The Big Ten, as always, will be a challenge," continued George. "There is no such thing as an easy match or opponent. We're looking forward to completing our non-conference schedule shortly where we anticipate three home weekends in addition to the 10 home Big Ten contests. We've missed our loyal fans in the stands and look forward to all of them joining us at Jenison Field House when our season gets underway in August."

Michigan State begins the fall 2021 campaign with four straight road games, which includes matches at both Nebraska and Indiana, the two teams which did not appear on the Spartans' spring 2021 slate. MSU opens at Indiana on Friday, Sept. 24 – the lone match against the Hoosiers this year – and finishes the weekend with a Sunday (Sept. 26) match against archrival Michigan.

The Spartans open October at Iowa and Nebraska in a Friday/Sunday schedule, and then return home for two straight weekends where the Spartans will take on Ohio State and Minnesota (Oct. 8-9), and then Wisconsin and Maryland (Oct. 15-16).   The Spartans get a quick return trip to take on the Terps on Saturday Oct. 23 after a Wednesday match at Purdue, the only midweek match of the Spartan slate.   The final weekend of October features a Friday home game against Iowa (Oct. 29) before the teams travel to Ohio State for a Halloween matchup.

November begins with a pair of eastern outposts, traveling for games at Rutgers and Penn State (Nov. 5-6) before MSU hosts the same two teams the next weekend in East Lansing (Nov. 12-13). MSU gets three of its final four and five of their last six matches overall:   A Friday showdown in Madison against the Badgers is the lone road match after Nov. 6, as Wisconsin comes to town on Nov. 19, and the rematch with Michigan is slated for Sunday, Nov. 21 at Jenison Field House. After the Thanksgiving holiday, fans are invited to spend the weekend at Jenison to take in the final two regular-season matches against Illinois and Northwestern (Nov. 26-27).

The complete non-conference schedule will be released upon its completion, but the 2021 campaign will begin at Jenison Field House when Michigan State hosts the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational Aug. 27-28. All dates are subject to change, and gametimes will come closer to the start of the season.

September
Fri. 24   at Indiana
   Sun. 26   at Michigan

October
   Fri. 1   at Iowa
   Sun. 3   at Nebraska
   Fri. 8   OHIO STATE
   Sat. 9   MINNESOTA
   Fri. 15   WISCONSIN
   Sat. 16   MARYLAND
   Wed. 20   at Purdue
   Sat. 23    at Maryland
   Fri. 29   IOWA
   Sun. 31   at Ohio State

November
   Fri. 5   at Rutgers
   Sat. 6   at Penn State
   Fri. 12   RUTGERS
   Sat. 13   PENN STATE
   Fri. 19   at Wisconsin
   Sun. 21   MICHIGAN
   Fri. 26   ILLINOIS
   Sat. 27   NORTHWESTERN

Bold caps - home matches

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