Quincy to open 2017 season at UCSB Asics Invitational

Quincy will return to the season-opening tournament where last season it almost pulled off one of its biggest upsets in program history.

The Hawks as part of recently unveiling their 2017 schedule announced that for the second consecutive year they will begin their season at the annual Asics Invitational.


Despite finishing the non-conference event winless last season, Quincy rallied from a two-game deficit against the host school UC Santa Barbara and lost in a decisive fifth. The near upset would have been one of first times the Hawks defeated a top-10 nationally ranked teams in their program history.

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Quincy while not getting a rematch against UC Santa Barbara at the 2017 tournament will play both Long Beach State and Stanford — two teams ranked in the top five of the final national media poll last season. The MIVA school also will open the two-day tournament versus CSUN on Jan. 6.

Quincy ended last season in seventh place in the MIVA and lost to Loyola in four games in the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Hawks return a majority of starters for the upcoming season, including All-MIVA middle attacker Jarrod Kelso who was among the conference leaders in 2016 with more than a .400 attack percentage and a 1.08 blocks per game average.

Along with Quincy, two other MIVA schools — Fort Wayne and McKendree — have announced they will compete at the upcoming Asics Invitational.

UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State, Stanford and CSUN are among the MPSF schools that will participate at the non-conference tournament.