Toledo, Ohio— The University of Toledo women's volleyball team opens its 2018 regular season with the Golden Dome Invitational in South Bend, Ind. beginning Friday afternoon.

The Rockets face off against Northern Kentucky on Friday, August 24 at 4:00 p.m. before playing Notre Dame and Weber State on Saturday, August 25 at 12:30 and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

Friday, August 24: vs. Northern Kentucky at 4:00 p.m. | Live Stats
Saturday, August 25: at Notre Dame at 12:30 p.m. | Live Stats | Live Stream
Saturday, August 25: vs. Weber State at 4:30 p.m. | Live Stats

Quick Hits

• This weekend will be the regular season coaching debut of head coach Jason Oliver. He arrived at UT in January after serving as an assistant coach at Indiana for two seasons. Prior to joining the Hoosiers, Oliver was the head coach at High Point from 2009-15.
• Maurissa Leonard enters the season just 96 digs away from breaking the program's all-time career digs record. Lora Sarich (2003-06) is the current record holder with 1,736.
• Leonard was named Preseason All-MAC West for the second consecutive season. The Oregon, Ohio native earned MAC West Defensive Player of the Week honors four times last year.
• The Rockets played in a school-record 11 five-set matches in 2017, five of which came in MAC play.
• Freshmen Liz and Megan Beasley are the younger twin sisters of Annie Beasley (2014-17), who last season set the school's single-season record for attack percentage (.363).

Scouting the Competition
Northern Kentucky: Friday will mark the first-ever matchup between UT and NKU. The Norse earned a record of 12-15 last season and a 7-9 conference mark playing in the Horizon League. They won their opening match in conference tournament play before falling, 3-1, to No. 1 seed Cleveland State. NKU is projected to finish sixth in its league. Last weekend they fell, 3-2, in an exhibition match against local foe Xavier.

Notre Dame: Toledo hosted the Fighting Irish last season as a part of the BG/UT Invitational, a match the Fighting Irish would win 3-0. Notre Dame went 22-10 last season with a 12-8 ACC record, good enough for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. UND would end up losing to Western Kentucky, 3-0, in postseason play. The Fighting Irish were picked to finish fourth in the ACC's preseason poll and had two players named to the preseason all-conference squad: seniors Ryann DeJarld and Jemma Yeadon.

Weber State: The Rockets and Wildcats will be meeting for the first time on Saturday to close out UT's season-opening tournament. Weber State played to a record of 9-20 a year ago and a 7-9 mark in Big Sky play, earning a berth in the conference tournament. The Wildcats fell, 3-1, to North Dakota to close out their season. In the preseason conference poll, WSU was picked to finish fifth out of 11 teams. Senior Andrea Hale returns after an all-conference caliber campaign in 2017.