OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University head coach Eric Madsen has announced the team’s 2018 schedule, which begins with a road trip to California to take on Pac-12 opponent USC in Los Angeles (Feb. 16-18) followed by a four-game series in Stockton with the Pacific Tigers (Feb. 23-25).
The Wolverines are scheduled to play their first 18 games on the road until the Western Athletic Conference opener on March 23 against Northern Colorado. During the opening stretch of road games, Utah Valley visits Texas A&M Corpus Christi (March 2-4) and then head to Starkville, Mississippi on March 9 to take on Mississippi State in what will be the Wolverines’ first-ever series with an SEC opponent. The only previous meeting with an SEC team came in 2016 when UVU faced LSU in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament at the Baton Rouge Regional.
Four teams on the schedule appeared in the 2017 NCAA Tournament including Mississippi State, which won the Hattiesburg Regional and advanced to the Super Regional in at LSU. Arizona, BYU and Sacramento State are the other three.
“This is one of the most challenging non-conference schedules we’ve ever played,” said UVU head coach Eric Madsen. “Coach (David) Carter took over scheduling for us this year and did a great job with opponents that will help prepare us for WAC play. We’ll see a wide range of highly-respected programs with a ton of tradition and each will present a different challenge and learning experience for our club.”
UVU will play four contests against in-state opponents throughout the 2018 campaign. The first comes against BYU in the UCCU Crosstown Clash when the Wolverines visit Provo on March 13. The Cougars make the return trip to Orem on March 27. Utah Valley will also do battle with Utah in Salt Lake City on April 10 and host the Utes a week later on April 17.
Following the opening WAC series with Northern Colorado, the Wolverines continue conference play by hosting the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (March 29-31) before their first conference-road series at Grand Canyon in Phoenix (April 6-8).
“From top to bottom, the WAC continues to improve and gain depth. It will be fight to earn a tournament spot for every team in the league and we look forward to the challenge,” Madsen said.
UVU hosts CSU Bakersfield (April 13-15), and visits Chicago State (April 20-22) as well as New Mexico State (May 4-6), before returning home for the final homestand of the season against Seattle U (May 11-13). Conference play and the regular season wrap up with a series at Sacramento State (May 17-19).
WAC play is broken up by a two-game series against Air Force in Orem (April 2-3) and a road trip to Moraga, California to take on Saint Mary’s in the third meeting with a West Coast Conference opponent on the year (April 27-29). The Wolverines will also host a single-game showdown with a third Pac-12 foe, Arizona, on April 30.
The WAC Tournament is scheduled to take place on May 23-27 at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona, where an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be up for grabs.
