UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--The 2000 Penn State women's volleyball schedule that features two home tournaments and 14 opponents that advanced to the 1999 NCAA tournament was released Friday. The Nittany Lions title defense begins at the State Farm Women's Volleyball Classic on August 25-26.

Hosted by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators, the State Farm Women's Classic features PSU, UCLA, Colorado State and Florida, the host institution. It is the second-consecutive season and fourth time overall the Lions will open the season in the prestigious preseason tournament.

The Lions has a 4-2 record in the event and won the title in 1997. The opener against UCLA will be aired by ESPN2 on Augunt 26 at 12:30 p.m. The championship match will also be shown at 1:30 p.m. on August 27.

After traveling to Austin, Texas, to face Texas and Arkansas, the Lions will return to Rec Hall for a mid-week match against Bucknell and look to extend its home-court winning streak, which spans an NCAA-record 80 matches. Penn State will then host the Penn State Invitational on September 8-9 where it will face Rutgers, Navy and James Madison.

The Penn State Classic, which runs September 15-16, will feature West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Fairfield. PSU will also have a mid-week road match against in-state rival Villanova on September 12.

Penn State owns a combined 274-54 record against the 2000 opponents and will face two opponents for the first time in Arkansas and Fairfield. It has an unblemished record against seven opponents, including Colorado State (2-0), Bucknell (7-0), James Madison (3-0), Villanova (8-0), West Virginia (25-0), Iowa (18-0) and Indiana (20-0).

The Lions begin the Big Ten portion of their schedule on September 22 at Wisconsin. After posting a perfect 20-0 record in the last two seasons, Penn State will try to become the first school in conference history to go undefeated in three-consecutive seasons.

Penn State returns three starters and 11 total returnees from the 1999 NCAA National Championship season where it went 36-1 and marched to the first women's volleyball title in school history.

2000 PENN STATE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

Date	Opponent	Location	Time
Aug. 25-26	at State Farm Women's Volleyball Classic hosted by NACWAA
Aug. 25	vs. UCLA	Gainesville, Fla.	5 p.m.
Aug. 26	vs. Florida/Colorado State	Gainesville, Fla.	5 p.m./7 p.m.
Sept. 1	vs. Arkansas	Austin, Texas	5 p.m.
Sept. 2	at Texas	Austin, Texas	7 p.m.
Sept. 6	Bucknell	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 8-9	Penn State Invitational
Sept. 8	Rutgers	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 9	Navy	University Park, Pa.	10 a.m.
Sept. 9	James Madison	University Park, Pa.	8 p.m.
Sept. 12	at Villanova	Villanova, Pa.	7 p.m.
Sept. 15-16	Penn State Classic
Sept. 15	West Virginia	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 16	Eastern Kentucky	University Park, Pa.	10 a.m.
Sept. 16	Fairfield	University Park, Pa.	8 p.m.
Sept. 22	at Wisconsin*	Madison, Wis.	7 p.m.
Sept. 23	at Northwestern*	Evanston, Ill.	7 p.m.
Sept. 29	Minnesota*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 30	Iowa*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 6	at Michigan State	East Lansing, Mich.	7 p.m.
Oct. 7	at Michigan	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7 p.m.
Oct. 13	Purdue*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 14	Illlinois*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18	Indiana*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 20	at Ohio State*	Columbus, Ohio	7 p.m.
Oct. 27	Michigan*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 28	Michigan State*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 3	at Iowa*	Iowa City, Iowa	7 p.m.
Nov. 4	at Minnesota*	Minneapolis	7 p.m.
Nov. 10	Northwestern*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 11	Wisconsin*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 15	at Indiana*	Bloomington, Ind.	7 p.m.
Nov. 18	Ohio State*	University Park, Pa.	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 24	at Illinois*	Champaign, Ill.	7 p.m.
Nov. 25	at Purdue	West Lafayette, Ind.	7 p.m.

Bold indicates home match played in Rec Hall.
All times are local to site.
* indicates Big Ten match.