2025 Tusculum Women’s Volleyball Schedule Released

The Tusculum University women’s volleyball team has 24 regular season matches in its 2025 schedule, including 18 South Atlantic Conference (SAC) contests.

Second-year head coach Hannah Barrett will have a roster of 27, looking to add another SAC championship to the program’s trophy case. Barrett retains eight from last year’s squad, adding three mid-year transfers in the spring. She brings in an additional 11 freshmen and five transfers for the fall. Her inaugural team went 13-14 (11-7 SAC), advancing to the SAC quarterfinals.

The 2025 season begins with a pair of home tournaments, broken up by a single conference match.

The Pioneer Classic will be a three-day event, running September 4-6, and will feature six teams including Tusculum. Over the stint, TU will face Auburn-Montgomery, Converse, Lee, and Edinboro, with King also participating in the tournament.

AUM is a fairly new program in the college ranks, with its first season of competition coming in 2017. The Warhawks and Pioneers will have their first-ever meeting this fall. AUM went 10-19 overall and 7-13 in Gulf South Conference action. In 2023, the Warhawks went 24-9 before falling in the GSC semifinals.

The Valkyries are coming off of their best season in program history. Converse won the Conference Carolinas tournament, earned a berth to the NCAA tournament, and finished with a 23-10 record, all of which were best finishes for the program. Tusculum leads the series over Converse 8-4, but the squads have not faced off since 2013.

The Flames went 19-16 (11-9 GSC) last fall, culminating with a loss in the conference semifinals. That was the deepest Lee has ever gone in the Gulf South tournament. Lee has the advantage in the series over Tusculum by a 16-6 margin, dating back to 1988.

Edinboro will make its first trip to Greeneville for the tournament. TU and EU have only seen each other once, back in 2003, with the Fighting Scots sweeping the match. Edinboro went 14-13 and 5-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

Tusculum makes a quick trip to Lincoln Memorial on September 9 to break up the home tournaments. TU and LMU split the two meetings, keeping the Railsplitter lead in the all-time meetings at three (37-34). Lincoln Memorial went 17-9 (11-7 SAC) in 2024, earning the tiebreaker over the Pioneers to be seeded sixth in the league tournament.

Tusculum will return to host the Pioneer Invitational on September 12, which is a tri-match featuring Montevallo, Southern Wesleyan, and TU.

The Falcons went 11-20 (8-12 GSC) last season and were knocked out of the Gulf South tournament by Lee. Tusculum has won once in nine meetings with Montevallo, dating back to 1986, with the lone win coming in 2011.

Tusculum has won all six meetings over SWU in the series history, with the matches being played between 1988 and 1998. The Warriors went 11-15 (7-11 CC) but fell on day one of the Conference Carolinas tournament.

The final 17 matches of Tusculum’s 2025 regular season are dedicated to South Atlantic Conference play.

Emory & Henry comes to Greeneville on September 16, with the Pioneers holding a 10-1 all-time record against the Wasps. Last season, E&H finished in a tie for 12th in the SAC standings with a 5-23 (2-16 SAC) finish.

Tusculum travels to perennial powerhouse Wingate on September 19. The Bulldogs have won 50-of-59 contests over the Pioneers since 1998. WU went 31-3 (17-1 SAC) to win the regular season, sweeping their way to a SAC tournament title, and nearly a clean sweep of the NCAA Southeast Region championship. The Bulldogs’ season came to an end in the national quarterfinals to the eventual champion.

Carson-Newman makes the short jaunt to Tusculum on September 23. The Eagles won both matches over the Pioneers last season to finish one game ahead in the league standings. C-N closed out the year in the SAC quarterfinals with a 16-11 (12-6 SAC) mark. The Eagles hold a narrow 36-33 lead in the series with TU.

UVA Wise hosts Tusculum on September 30 to close out the month. The Cavaliers reached the SAC tournament for the first time since joining the league (2019) behind a 12-16 (6-12 SAC) record, sliding into the final spot after a three-way tiebreak. TU has dominated the series over UVA Wise by a 33-2 margin.

The Pioneers begin October (Oct. 3) at Coker. Tusculum won both meetings over the Cobras last season to extend the series lead to 17-4. Coker finished 11th in the league standings with a 5-19 (4-14 SAC) record.

Mars Hill makes the short trip to Pioneer Arena on October 7. The Lions finished with a 17-10 (13-5 SAC) record, marking its highest seed in over 15 years. MHU reached the SAC semifinals for the first time since 2011. Tusculum and Mars Hill split a pair of five-setters last season as TU maintained its 17-match edge in the all-time series (41-24), which is the most wins over a single team in Pioneer history.

On October 10, Catawba comes to Tusculum. The Catawba Indians had a subpar year, finishing last in the league with a 4-21 (2-16 SAC) record. TU extended its advantage to 28-25 all-time over Catawba.

One week later, Anderson crosses the mountain to Greeneville. The Trojans went 19-11 (13-5 SAC), winning the tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. AU advanced to the NCAA regional before falling in the quarterfinals. Anderson won the lone meeting last season over Tusculum to close the series gap to 18-17 in TU’s favor.

The following week (Oct. 24), Tusculum hosts Newberry. The Wolves collected a 9-14 (6-12 SAC) record, missing the league tournament via a three-way tiebreaker for eighth. The Pioneers stretched the series lead to 30-20 after a sweep in the lone meeting of 2024.

Tusculum begins a busy week by traveling to Lenoir-Rhyne on October 28. LR is coming off of a 27-5 (14-4 SAC) campaign, which saw the Bears collect the No. 2 seed in the league tournament, advance to the SAC title match, and reach the NCAA regional quarterfinals. TU and LR split the two matches played in 2024, as Tusculum swept Senior Night, while Lenoir-Rhyne blanked the rematch four days later in the SAC quarterfinals. The Pioneers lead the series, 33-25.

The second half of seven home-and-home series are spread throughout the last two months of the regular season. The Pioneers will be the visiting team at Carson-Newman (Oct. 14), Catawba (Oct. 18), Emory & Henry (Nov. 11), and Mars Hill (Nov. 14), while hosting Coker (Oct. 30), Lenoir-Rhyne (Oct. 31 – Homecoming), and Wingate (Nov. 7 – Senior Night).

The 2025 South Atlantic Conference Championship bracket will be based upon conference finish once again. The league’s top eight teams will square off on November 18 at the campus site of the respective higher seed. The SAC Championship semifinals and finals are slated to be held at the Rock Hill Sport and Events Center on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 21-22), respectively.

The NCAA Division II Tournament will begin with regional play December 4 at select campus sites, with the eight regional champions advancing to the final site. The finals will be hosted by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Sioux Falls (S.D.) Sports Authority with the matches running from December 11-13.

– TU –

2025 TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE