Cross Country Soccer Sports Volleyball

AAC decision on volleyball, cross country, soccer seasons

Head coach David Rehr went 10-6 against the American Athletic Conference in his first season with the Cougars in 2019.

Head coach David Rehr went 10-6 against the American Athletic Conference in his first season with the Cougars in 2019. | Trevor Nolley/ The Cougar

The American Athletic Conference announced its decision for the 2020 season on fall sports on Wednesday afternoon and will begin competitions as soon as Sept. 1.

For football, the league decided to keep its eight-game conference schedule, and plans to kickoff the games on time, while also allowing flexibility to schedule nonconference games.

When it comes to the other fall sports, the AAC released a different plan for each:

Volleyball

The AAC will go with a two-division format where each team within the division will play each other twice at the same site they meet.

Houston will be in the West Division, which will also include Memphis, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa and Wichita State.

The East Division consists of UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Temple and USF.

Conference play will begin during the weekend of  Sept. 24-27 and will conclude the weekend of Nov. 12-15. Conference matches may be scheduled between Thursday and Sunday according to the AAC.

The conference will also allow three open weekends, so schools can schedule nonconference matches on or after Sept. 1 if the individual universities choose to do so.

The top two teams from each division in the regular season will qualify for the AAC championship game, which will be held between Nov. 21-22 at the Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati.

Women’s soccer

The AAC’s nine women’s soccer teams will play an eight-match single-round-robin schedule of conference matches that will be played on Sundays, beginning on Sept. 6.

The conference will allow schools to schedule midweek non-conference matches if the opposing teams meet “standards and testing guidelines” set by the AAC’s advisory group, however, the non-conference matches will not be allowed if teams have to air travel and/or stay overnight at a hotel.

The 2020 AAC’s women’s soccer championship will be determined by the best four teams in the regular season. The No. 1 seed at the end of the campaign will get to host the championship matches on Nov. 6 and 8.

If the No. 1 seed cannot host the matches due to health concerns, the next highest seed available will get to host them.

Cross Country

The AAC teams can begin scheduling regular season competitions on or after Sept. 1.

The AAC championship meets are set to take place on Oct. 31 at 4 Mile Creek Resort in Augusta, Kansas.

The conference also announced that all decisions on other fall sports and on the winter sports will be made at a later date.

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