With the outer bands of Hurricane Florence beginning to make landfall on Thursday afternoon in the Carolinas, most universities in the path of the storm have already locked-up campus and left town, or hunkered in place, with plans well-set for this weekend’s athletics activities. Most of the announcements still to happen will center around teams from other parts of the country who lost tournaments this weekend finding replacement matches far outside of the reaches of Florence.
We will still keep an eye out for rescheduling of matches that were postponed, not cancelled, including notably the Duke vs. Carolina matchup scheduled for Sunday. With the storm expected to inflict major damage, future games could also be impacted if the impact of the storm causes travel to-and-from the Carolinas to be difficult even after the storm has passed.
Florence is makinng landfall as a powerful category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour as of 2PM Eastern Time on Thursday. New projections show that it’s possible that the storm will sit just-offshore of land for several days, increasing damage. It is causing 83-foot waves near its eye.
Thursday Updates
- Division I George Mason has cancelled the Mason Invitational, which was due to include Radford, Norfolk State, and Northern Colorado. Out of an abundance of caution, none of those three teams will travel, but instead host Lehigh on Friday at 7PM. All George Mason students at the match with a valid ID will receive a free Washington Nationals (MLB) ticket.
- NCAA Division II schools Virginia State and Bowie State have postponed their matchup that was originally scheduled for Thursday evening. The cancellation was made before the storm turned south, though Virginia is still expected to have severe weather. No makeup date has been announced.
- Division II Catawaba College has cancelled alol athletic events for the weekend, including a scheduled league volleyball match against Tusculum on Friday.
WEDNESDAY UPDATES
New Matches:
- Kansas and UNC Greensboro will play Friday at 5PM and Saturday at 6PM.
- Loyola Maryland and Morgan State have joined the Dig the District Invitational, co-hosted by Georgetown and George Washington Universities in D.C, which should be far enough away from the storm to be spared any serious damage. Hampton withdrew from the tournament, having cancelled all school activities for the weekend. Hampton is located directly where Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. The other is under a tropical storm watch. Loyola has also picked up a match against La Salle on Thursday evening, though they haven’t specifically said if that will still happen after the newly-formed tournament was found in nearby D.C.
- Toledo, Bucknell, and Youngstown State will play on Saturday in Akron, Ohio at the Zips Invitational hosted by Akron, after Toledo lost matches from the VCU tournament.
New Cancellations/Postponements:
- Duke and UNC had already postponed their Sunday matchup, but on Wednesday morning, Duke also announced that it was postponing its Wednesday match against Elon as a result of the storm.
- VCU, which has announced a full-university closure for Thursday through Saturday, has cancelled their tournament this weekend. They were due to host Virginia, Toledo, and South Carolina. VCU is located in Richmond, about 250 miles due-north of where the heart of the storm is expected to make landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Virginia coast is still under a tropical storm watch.
MONDAY AND TUESDAY UPDATES
Other NCAA Volleyball Cancelled (with links for more):
- UNCW Seahawk Invitational, Wilmington, North Carolina tournament cancelled – South Carolina State, Western Carolina, Charleston Southern, Providence, UNCW
- North Dakota State cancelled its trip to play UNC and Duke, and is looking for other local matches.
- Coastal Carolina cancelled the Coastal Carolina classic in Conway, South Carolina – Coastal Carolina, TCU, College of Charleston, #9 Pitt
- Campbell Invitational, Buies Creek, North Carolina – Campbell, Loyola (MD), North Carolina Central, Mercer
- William & Mary Second Colonial Invitational, Williamsburg Virginia – Lehigh, Morgan State, East Carolina, William & Mary
- UNC vs. Duke – postponed
- Winthrop vs. Citadel – canceled
- Tussel in the Triad – Elon, Kansas, High Point, UNCG – canceled
New Matches Created:
- TCU vs. North Dakota State – Friday, 7PM
- LaSalle vs. Loyola (MD) – Thursday
- High Point, Liberty, College of Charlestonand #9 Pitt will play a new tournament hosted by Pitt on Saturday, September 15th.
- UNCG vs. High Point will move to November 3rd
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