EDINBURG – The volleyball team at UTRGV has been one of the program’s bright spots in recent years.

In 2016, the Vaqueros won their first WAC title and reached their first NCAA tournament. Then last year, they were back in the WAC final where they came up just short of making their 2nd straight NCAA appearance.

As a new season approaches, coach Todd Lowery has setup a challenging non-conference schedule, which includes four matches against NCAA tourney participants.

“We felt like we were ready for WAC play last year, so we tried to keep a similar theme there where we have some matches where we can go out and surprise some people,” said Lowery. “I think our matchup against Rice is a matchup that’s a good matchup for us.”

Among UTRGV’s non-conference slate are matches against Baylor and Cal Poly. September 14th, UTRGV will host Texas Tech at the Fieldhouse in Edinburg.

“A power five school in our gym is going to be fun,” said Lowery. “They’re a much improved team and a growing team.”

When it comes to WAC play, Coach Lowery says the conference should be wide open. A host of seniors have left WAC teams that did well last season.

“I think I like where we sit,” said Lowery. “We have a good returning core and a couple of new faces that I think are going to contribute. So I’m excited about seeing if we can get back to winning a regular season title and a tournament title and getting back to the NCAA’s.”

UTRGV open the season against Louisiana Tech at the Houston Baptist Tournament August 24th.