Show Fall Sports Schedules Finalized New Format for Second Straight Year in Basketball Andy Farnsworth Sports Editor Bruins fans no longer have to wait to plan their calendars to attend the fall sports games as schedules have been finalized for the volleyball and mens men's and women's basketball teams And for the second straight year there is a new format formatin in the Scenic West Athletic Conference iri mens men's s and d women's basketball regular season play After a season in 2003 04 where all the teams played to back-to-back against the same opponent each weekend weekend weekend week week- end the conference has tweaked things again to satisfy satisfy satisfy sat sat- those schools who preferred preferred preferred pre pre- the new format and those it to goback goback go back to the way it was before before- with two games against different schools each weekend Last years year's schedule changes necessitated by Utah Valley State College leaving the to jump to Division I had opponents opponents opponents meeting on consecutive consecutive consecutive tive nights so you would play the same school twice in two days From a basketball basketball basketball bas bas- purists purist's perspective the format was could be fascinating to see what adjustments were made from one night to the next and to see if a team was good enough to win two ina in ina a row However not all the coaches liked the format nor did they like the early start to conference play Last season the first game in conference took place in November mid-November whereas play used to begin in January at the latest and December at the earliest So the conference decided ed on a compromise comp in an effort to satisfy coaches who supported each format for the first half of the season season season sea sea- son games will be played the old way with each team playing a different opponent opponent opponent nent on consecutive nights and for the second half of the season the schedule will be done as it was last season The team that looks to benefit most from this new schedule is Dixie State They visit and earl early y in the season but th then n in host both schools twice St. St George in the secondI second half For the Bruins the they Southern I get Eastern Utah Southern Idaho and Snow at home homer during the second half of r the season and only ha have havethe e ethe the doubleheader at Dixie f as a major hurdle to get by byAs t As for the volleyball volleyball team their schedule doesn does t 1 look look looka a whole lot different last however than it did year ot of couple er there are a of First i notable exceptions and foremost is the addition of a season late-season invitational tournament hosted by the Bruins that brings national powerhouse Miami-Dade Miami College to West Valley City time Long-time volleyball volleyball volleyball vol vol- vol- vol fans will remember that Miami-Dade Miami is the school that narrowly edged the Bruins for the 1999 Junior College National Championship The Sharks are time seven-time national champions and finished third last season with a 34 2 mark and will play on Saturday October the the fourth match in two days for the Sharks The other difference is isone isone isone one less conference opponent opponent opponent po op-po- nent for the second straight year Colorado Northwestern Community College dropped their women's volleyball program program program pro pro- gram so needed to pick up some extra matches to compensate Assistant Coach Rick Medley says they have added a two-day two tournament in Spokane Washington on October 12 12 12 1 2 guaranteeing them at least five more matches Adding this tournament also means that the Bruins will take on North Idaho College in Coeur D' D DAlene Alene on Thursday September instead of on Saturday October 2nd |