Boston College Athletics
Volleyball Opens 2010 Season with Beanpot Classic
August 26, 2010 | Boston College Athletics
Aug. 26, 2010
The Boston College volleyball program begins its 21st season tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 27, when they travel to Worchester, Mass. for day one of the Beanpot Classic. BC will kick-off the two day tournament with a match against co-host Holy Cross at 10:30 a.m. and return to play Fordham at 4:00 p.m. On Saturday, all teams will travel to Chestnut Hill for the remainder of the competition. The Eagles will take on Northeastern at 12:30 p.m., before closing out the tournament against Quinnipiac at 7:00 p.m.
The Beanpot Classic will be held over two days for the first time in its history this weekend. This is the second consecutive season the Eagles will compete in the tournament. BC is the defending champion, having earned victories over Holy Cross (3-0) and Northeastern (3-2) to go two-for-two in the tournament. The 2010 edition of the tournament will feature the Boston College Eagles, Holy Cross Crusaders, Fordham Rams, Northeastern Huskies and the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
First year head coach Chris Campbell will officially begin his tenure as an Eagle with the inaugural match against Holy Cross.
"The first match of the season is always surrounded by a good deal of excitement," Campbell said. "It will be good to play someone other than ourselves for a change. Over the course of training camp, we have definitely have seen a lot of growth both as a team and individually in a system and style of play that we want to have."
The Crusaders are coming off their most successful season in the Patriot League in four years. Holy Cross returns 10 veterans from the previous year and will be led by senior setter Chelsey O'Donnell and classmate libero/defensive specialist Angela Chisholm.
After meeting Fordham in Friday's afternoon match, Boston College will return to Chestnut Hill for the second day of the tournament.
"It's always nice to play matches at home and getting to play two matches in our own gym on opening weekend will be good. They are both great opponents and I expect two great matches here on Saturday. Northeastern has a solid program, led by a great coach. They were strong last year and I expect them to be as good, if not better, this year. It will be nice to play some home matches, before we begin an extended stretch on the road."
Northeastern will be looking to avenge their 3-2 defeat at the hands of Boston College in the 2009 Beanpot Classic. The Huskies are led by 2009 All-CAA second-team selection Brittney Brown and fellow seniors, middle hitters Caitlin Tittl and Jillian Robinson.
"For us, this is the first step in a longer journey of building this program," Campbell said of this weekend. "We are looking for that benchmark that tells us where we are now, what we're doing well and can build on and other things we need to address. This is the first step in preparing for conference play, so it's a good evaluation point for all the work we've put into the program at this time."
Live scoring for all of Saturday's matches will be available through GameTracker.
The Eagles schedule for the weekend is as follows:
Fri., Aug. 27 (at Holy Cross)
at Holy Cross - 10:00 a.m.
vs. Fordham - 4:00 p.m.
Sat., Aug. 28 (at Boston College)
vs. Northeastern - 12:30 p.m.
vs. Quinnipiac - 7:00 p.m.
