Ten days before No. 11 Ball State University plays its first match, the college men's volleyball regular season will officially begin Tuesday.
The defending NCAA championships No. 2 University of California at Irvine will play host to Cal Baptist University, a NAIA team, at 10 p.m. in Irvine, Calif.
UC Irvine enters this season winning two national titles in the last three years. It also finished last season 27-5 — the second most wins in program history — including a season-opening sweep against Cal Baptist.
The Anteaters return three All-Americans from last season's championship team. However, the team will be without starting setter Ryan Ammerman, who finished his college career in May as the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player.
Former Ball State setter Jeff Schmitz split time with Anthony Spittle at setter in UC Irvine's preseason match against the University of Winnipeg during the weekend.
Schmitz sat out last season after transferring to UC Irvine following the 2008 season.
As a freshman, Schmitz started 23 matches and was named the 2007 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Freshman of the Year, but he was replaced in the starting lineup by then-freshman Ethan Pheister late in the season. In his second and final season with the Cardinals, Schmitz started three matches and primarily came off the bench as a spot server.
Spittle, a junior, played in nine matches last season and averaged 4.60 assists per game coming off the bench.
Following its match tonight, UC Irvine will be one of eight teams competing in the Santa Barbara Invitational this weekend at Santa Barbara, Calif.
This is one of two tournaments during the opening weekend. The Outrigger Invitational begins Thursday in Hawii and features three of the final four teams from last season — No. 1 University of Southern California, No. 5 Penn State University and No. 10 Ohio State University — in this four-team tournament.
Ball State will open its season with a MIVA match against Loyola University on Jan. 15 in Chicago.
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