As the players and coaches wind up the first week of fall practice, Charlotte volleyball will hit the Halton Arena floor on Saturday evening in the Green-White scrimmage as an early dry run in preparation for the 2012 season, the team's final campaign in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The 49ers will start with three tournaments on the road before finally playing at home on September 14 and 15, in the Hilton University 49er Invite.

The 49ers head to East Carolina for matches against Bethune-Cookman and Campbell before taking on the host Pirates in the ECU Classic, starting Friday, August 24. The 49ers will play in the Clemson and Gardner-Webb Tournaments in the following two weeks before opening up Halton Arena for regular-season matches against Kennesaw, Asheville and Towson.

"I am excited about our pre-conference tournaments," said head coach Chris Redding, entering his sixth year at the helm of the program. "We've got a lot of different styles of play to challenge us in the period. I think it will be fun and exciting and a good test for us with a solid group of returners and five new players."

Charlotte heads into A-10 play the nest weekend, starting with four in a row on the road in league play, before hosting the next five in a row at home, starting with new league foe VCU on Saturday, October 6. The Niners then host new conference opponent Butler in the annual Dig Pink match on Thursday, October 11. The match raises funds and awareness for Breast Cancer Research through the Side-Out Foundation.

After a weekend road trip in late October, the 49ers finish up league play in Halton Arena with a visit from defending A-10 champ Dayton on November 2 and a Senior Day Match against Xavier on November 4. The Niners will end the 2012 regular season in Richmond against VCU.

"Adding two teams to the league mix makes every match more important," added Redding. "We get to play some important teams both home and away and it should make for a fun and exciting year."

The 49ers finished 13-14 in 2010, tying for sixth place in the league standings, but missing out on the six-team A-10 Tournament on a tiebreaker after gaining entrance to the tournament in both of the two previous seasons.