UC Irvine, Stanford to continue non-conference series in 2020

Photo courtesy of Stanford athletics

UC Irvine and Stanford will continue their annual streak of playing each other during the regular season.

The Anteaters as part of recently unveiling their 2020 schedule announced they will play a home match against the Cardinal on Jan. 17.

This will be the 32nd consecutive year the former conference foes will fac each other, including playing every season since UC Irvine left the MPSF with the Big West adding men’s volleyball in 2018. The upcoming season, though, will feature UC Irvine and Stanford only playing once instead of a two-match non-conference series like the last two seasons.

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UC Irvine and Stanford last season in a match-up between two top-10 nationally ranked teams split their non-conference series.

Stanford All-American opposite Jaylen Jasper in the series had a combined 38 kills, including 17 kills and five blocks in the victory. Jasper also returns for his junior season after ending last year in the nation’s top 15 with a 3.70 kills per game average.

UC Irvine All-Big West outside attacker Joel Schneidmiller also finished last season among the national leaders averaging both 3.65 kills per game and 0.54 aces per game en route to helping the Anteaters reach the Big West Tournament semifinals. In addition, Schneidmiller had a match-high four blocks along with 13 kills in the team’s victory against Stanford.

Schneidmiller is one of three starters returning for the Anteaters who earned All-Big West honors last season.

The match against Stanford will be part of a seven-match homestand to open the 2020 season. UC Irvine during this homestand also will have a two-match series BYU on Jan. 22-24.

2020 UC Irvine schedule

Sunday, Dec. 29 vs. Princeton
Thursday, Jan. 9 vs. Lewis
Friday, Jan. 10 vs. Loyola
Friday, Jan. 17 vs. Stanford
Wednesday, Jan. 22 vs. BYU
Friday, Jan. 24 vs. BYU
Thursday, Jan. 30 vs. Concordia-Irvine
Saturday, Feb. 1 at USC
Feb. 6-8 at Outrigger Invitational
Saturday, Feb. 15 vs. UC San Diego
Friday, Feb. 21 at UC San Diego
Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Concordia-Irvine
Friday, Feb. 28 vs. Grand Canyon
Friday, March 6 vs. North Greenville (at Grand Canyon)
Saturday, March 7 at Grand Canyon
Friday, March 13 vs. Penn State
Saturday, March 21 vs. Charleston (at George Mason)
Sunday, March 22 at George Mason
Thursday, March 26 vs. Long Beach State
Friday, March 27 at Long Beach State
Wednesday, April 1 vs. UC Santa Barbara
Friday, April 3 at UC Santa Barbara
Friday, April 10 vs. CSUN
Saturday, April 11 at CSUN
Friday, April 17 at Hawai’i
Saturday, April 18 at Hawai’i