Demorest, GA - Piedmont College Head Volleyball Coach Sid Feldman has released his team's 2015 schedule with the Lady Lions spending much of the opening portion of the season away from the friendly confines of Cave Arena.  

Piedmont will play just two home contests in the month of September playing in two tournaments over the first few weeks of the 2015 season including a three-game weekend at the prestigious Emory Classic.  PC will play ten contests at home throughout the year while the remainder of the schedule comes outside of Demorest including ten true away matches and 12 coming on a neutral floor. 

The highlight contest of the '15 slate likely comes with the Eagles of Emory University visiting Cave Arena on October 12.  The Eagles finished the 2014 season with a 39-4 overall record falling in five sets in the NCAA Division III National Championship Game to Hope finishing as the National Runner-Up.

The trip to the Final Four was the third time for Emory in the previous five seasons and the contest also features a teacher-pupil matchup on the sidelines as well as Head Coach Jenny McDowell played her collegiate ball for Piedmont's Sid Feldman during his days as the Head Coach at the University of Georgia. 

Piedmont opens with a local rival to start the year playing the Eagles of Toccoa Falls College on the road September 2 at 7:00 p.m.  The season opener marks the only meeting between the two on the 2015 schedule as the Lady Lions have not dropped a set to the foe in the last three meetings in the series.

The weekend following the season opener at Toccoa, Piedmont returns to a tournament hosted by conference foe Huntingdon College for the first time since 2011 with the Lady Lions facing two new foes in Talladega and Bellahaven as well as familiar faces (Agnes Scott, Sewanee).  

In between the two tourneys that dot the opening portion of the schedule is the Lady Lions' home opener with Brewton Parker coming to Cave Arena for an anticipated 6:30 p.m. first serve on Tuesday, September 8.  

Piedmont then heads to Atlanta for the Emory Classic where the team will play three matches, all against Division III foes including two rare showdowns facing Johns Hopkins and Lakeland while also taking on the familiar Birmingham-Southern.  

Johns Hopkins won 14 of its final 17 contests in 2014 to wrap up with 17 wins on the season, the same number of victories as Lakeland, while Birmingham-Southern comes off a 24-11 season in 2014 and a runner-up finish in the Southern Athletic Association.

The Lady Lions return home for a September 15 match against Truett-McConnell, another intriguing matchup as the Bears are led by a former assistant coach to Sid Feldman with Melody Tenney at the helm of the Cleveland, Georgia program. 

After the mid-week contest with the Bears, it's back on the road for the Green and Gold as a tri-match at William Peace University with NC Wesleyan opens up the conference portion of 2015 for PC.  That September 19 tri-match in Carolina starts a stretch of eight straight Saturday tri-matches for the Lady Lions with only two of those coming at home. 

A week after opening USA South action, Piedmont will travel to LaGrange College for a tri-match featuring Huntingdon.  Just a few days prior, the Lady Lions will have played its first mid-week USA South contest of the season traveling up Lookout Mountain to face Covenant College on September 23. 

Hosting Emory & Henry College and Wesleyan College on October 3 for the first tri-match at home, Piedmont will play four straight matches at home over a four-day period with Maryville coming to town October 4 before LaGrange travels in on October 6.  Maryville, the defending USA South champions, will be Senior Recognition for the Lady Lions as well. 

On October 10, the Lady Lions will travel to Staunton, Virgina for a USA South tri-match hosted by Mary Baldwin College with Greensboro College also visiting.  

Then comes the much anticipated weeknight visit from Emory before Piedmont plays current conference member Huntingdon and newly announced USA South member Agnes Scott in back-to-back road games though the Scotties will not be a conference member officially until 2016. 

October 17 will be Piedmont's first and only USA South tri-match at home this season with Averett and Ferrum both traveling down from Virginia to take their chances in Cave Arena.  Shortly after, the Lady Lions will play its final home contest of 2015 hosting Covenant College on October 20 before playing its final five games of the schedule on the road.  

Included in that stretch to end the year is an October 24 trip in conference play to Raleigh for showdowns with Meredith and Methodist.  Then, an October 28 journey to the defending conference champs with Piedmont facing Maryville College for the second time on the season before a November 1 date in Atlanta with Fisk and Oglethorpe to end the regular season.

It all leads to the USA South Championship Tournament to take place the first weekend in November with the tourney site yet to be announced.  The Lady Lions will start their journey in 2015 with the road date at Toccoa Falls College on September 2 with first serve set for 7:00 p.m. 

The home opener will come against Brewton-Parker College on September 8 starting at 6:30 p.m. in Cave Arena.  All home action, for the 3rd year in a row, will be broadcast live on Piedmont's own Mane Event Broadcasting Network with live video and live stats integrated into one broadcast.

For the complete 2015 schedule, click here.