RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech head volleyball coach Amber McCray announced the 2021 Lady Techster Volleyball schedule on Tuesday morning, which features 10 home matches played inside the Thomas Assembly Center. After a one-year hiatus, the Lady Techsters will also host the LA Tech Invitational from Sept. 16-18 in Ruston.
 
"We are excited to officially release our long-anticipated 2021 schedule. One of the aspects we are most thankful for this year is a return to a full, more normal preseason schedule against a variety of opponents.
 
"This provides us ample opportunities to compete and discover what works best for our team in preparation for another challenging C-USA schedule that features some of the best mid-major teams in the country."
 
LA Tech opens the 2021 schedule with a road exhibition at McNeese State on Aug. 21 before the regular season slate begins with a weekend tournament at Arkansas on Aug. 27. The Lady Techsters will open regular season play with Little Rock, Arkansas and Arkansas Pine-Bluff in Arkansas' Barnhill Arena.
 
The Lady Techsters will then open their home schedule with a match against Jackson State on Sept. 1 in the Thomas Assembly Center. Tech's first home match of the season will then lead into a stretch of seven straight contests away from Ruston, beginning with the Houston Baptist Tournament from Sept. 3-4. LA Tech will battle Prairie View A&M, Houston Baptist and Lamar in the two-day tournament.
 
LA Tech will play in its third weekend tournament of 2021 with TCU's Fight in the Fort from Sept. 9-10. The Techsters will square off against TCU, North Florida and Houston Baptist in Fort Worth. I-20 foe ULM will host the Lady Techsters on Sept. 14 to end Tech's stretch of seven matches away from the TAC.
 
Fans will be able to watch the Techsters host their first home tournament since 2019 from Sept. 16-18, which is when LA Tech hosts Southern, New Orleans and Little Rock for the LA Tech Invitational. Tech's opening match against in-state opponent Southern will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16.
 
After the Lady Techsters compete in their fourth and final weekend tournament of the regular season, they will open Conference USA action at UTSA on Sept. 24-25.
 
The 2021 C-USA schedule will consist of six weekends of conference matchups. Similar to the 2020-21 season, the pair of teams will play each other twice over the same weekend. The Lady Techsters will host three conference opponents and travel to three conference schools to form their 12-match C-USA schedule.
 
LA Tech will host North Texas (Oct. 1-2), Rice (Oct. 15-16) and UAB (Nov. 5-6) in the Thomas Assembly Center. In addition to traveling to UTSA on Sept. 24-25, Tech will battle UTEP (Oct. 8-9) and Southern Miss (Oct. 29-30) on the road.
 
The Techsters will also face Mississippi Valley State on Oct. 19 and Grambling State on Oct. 25 during their bye weekend from Conference USA action. Both matches will be on the road.
 
After LA Tech closes out its regular season with a pair of home matches against UAB on Nov. 5-6, the Conference USA Championships will begin two weekends later in Norfolk, Virginia. Old Dominion will play host to the 2021 tournament held from Nov. 19-21.
 
Keep up with the Lady Techsters by following @LATechVB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.