Valparaiso University bowling head coach Matt Nantais announced today his squad’s schedule for the upcoming 2015-16 season, a slate which features tournaments hosted by five of the eight NCAA Championship qualifying teams from last season and the seventh annual Crusader Classic.

“I think that our schedule is tough again this year,” said Nantais.  “Our first half, we will travel four weekends in a row and added a new tournament this year at Virginia Union. It will be challenging both in the classroom as well as on the lanes. I feel we have grown as a team and have improved on some of the things that hurt us last year, and I know the team is excited to make another run at the NCAA Championships. They are coming in with a high level of confidence, which makes me very excited to start working with the team this year.”

The season kicks off for the Crusaders at the Fairleigh Dickinson NJ Jamboree on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 before Valpo returns home Nov. 6-8 to host the Crusader Classic at Inman’s in Valparaiso. Annually one of the nation’s most competitive fields, eventual NCAA champion Nebraska claimed the tournament title last season to become the first two-time champion.

Valpo will continue its season-opening stretch of tournaments the next weekend at Nebraska’s Big Red Invitational Nov. 12-14. The Crusaders’ run of four tournaments in four weekends comes to an end at the Virginia Union Invitational on Nov. 20-22, Valpo’s first trip to that competition.

Following a nearly two-month break over the holidays, the Crusaders return to the lanes in 2016 at Arkansas State’s Mid-Winter Invitational Jan. 15-17, and follow with a trip the next weekend to the Kutztown Invitational. Valpo will face off against the field at the Warhawk Classic Feb. 19-21, a tournament hosted by national semifinalist UW-Whitewater, and closes out the regular season Mar. 18-20 at the Columbia 300 Music City Classic, hosted by Vanderbilt.

In the second year of the Southland Bowling League, the Crusaders will head to the SBL Championships in Keener, La. from Mar. 26-27. Valpo’s ultimate goal is to return to the NCAA Championships for the second time, which will be contested in North Brunswick, N.J. this year on Apr. 14-16.