Buy Season Tickets Here | 2017 Schedule

SPOKANE, Wash.--The 2017 volleyball season is coming up quickly, and Gonzaga head coach Diane Nelson announced the Bulldogs' schedule for the upcoming campaign on Wednesday.

Gonzaga faces a balanced schedule this season, complete with 10 opponents that posted winning records last season and three that reached the NCAA Tournament - Denver, BYU, and San Diego. The Bulldogs will play 12 matches inside the Martin Centre, the first three of which will come at the Zags' own Gonzaga Invitational the first weekend of September.

"We were very mindful about scheduling this fall," said Nelson. "Considering we will see a lot of freshmen contributing, we knew we needed to have the balance of both the level of play from our opponents as well as our travel schedule. I am grateful to stay in our region playing at Montana State to open up, and we have also brought back our home tournament in the second weekend with a tough schedule of opponents. We will head to Phoenix and Denver to see more tough competition from great programs, too. Our ability to gain experience and build team chemistry through the non-conference schedule will lay a great foundation for conference play."

The Zags will begin the year in Bozeman, Mont., for three matches at the Montana State Bobcat Classic. They begin the year on August 25th with a showdown against Illinois, who is coming off a 21-10 record and 10-10 mark in the Big Ten. They'll also face Air Force and Montana State on the weekend, the match versus Air Force being the first time the Falcons and Bulldogs will play.

GU begins its home schedule Sept. 1-2 by hosting the Gonzaga Invitational. The first match of that tournament will come Sept. 1 against Arizona State, and both Nevada and Portland State will make the trip to Spokane as well. Gonzaga has played each of these teams in the last two seasons, beating the Wolf Pack in 2016 while last playing the Sun Devils and Vikings two years ago.

The next weekend, the Bulldogs fly to Phoenix, Ariz., for the GCU Tournament. They'll open the tournament against Idaho, the first match between the two Inland Northwest foes since 2010. Gonzaga will also take on host Grand Canyon and Fordham a day later on Sept. 9. Fordham is the second of two first-time opponents on the 2017 slate.

The non-conference schedule ends Sept. 15-16 at the Denver Invitational. The Zags will square off against reigning Summit League champions Denver on Friday, Sept. 15, the first of five matches against NCAA Tournament foes. They'll also line up against the Mountain West's San Diego State and Big West's UC Riverside that weekend.

After the Denver Invitational, the Zags will return home to start the West Coast Conference slate, which begins Sept. 21 with a match against Saint Mary's. Pacific also comes to town the first conference weekend, and the Zags will follow up with a road trip to the Bay Area for matches at Santa Clara and San Francisco. They'll then host Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount Oct. 5 and 7, respectively, before a three-state, three-match road trip to San Diego (Oct. 12), BYU (Oct. 14), and Portland (Oct. 21) to end the first go-round in league play.

The second half of the WCC slate once again begins at home with matches against San Francisco and Santa Clara Oct. 26 and 28, and the Bulldogs start November with a trip to Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. Both the Cougars and Toreros make trips to Spokane Nov. 9 and 11, and Gonzaga will finish its road slate the weekend after at Pacific and Saint Mary's.

The regular season finale will take place Monday, Nov. 20, against Portland inside the Martin Centre. This is the fourth consecutive season that the Bulldogs end their season against the Pacific Northwest rivals during the week of Thanksgiving.

Gonzaga will sport 18 players on the 2017 roster: 10 returners from last year's squad that finished tied for third in the WCC standings and eight newcomers. Seven of those new faces will be freshmen, while graduate transfer Alyse Whitaker rounds out and adds experience to the roster.

Season tickets are available now by clicking here. Single match tickets will be available on GoZags.com/tickets beginning Aug. 1.