TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona volleyball team and head coach Dave Rubio have released the Wildcats' 2019 schedule, announced on Monday.

The Wildcats' schedule will be among the most difficult in the nation; in addition to the annual Pac-12 gauntlet, the Wildcats will play some of the best teams nationally in the nonconference slate. Arizona will play both last year's national champion, Stanford (twice) and the national runner up, Nebraska, one of only two teams in the country to do so. The Cardinal and Corn Huskers are two of 12 NCAA Tournament teams from last season on UA's schedule, including four sweet 16 teams.

Arizona, which finished 2018 ranked No. 25 in the AVCA Top 25 will play six others that finished the season ranked in the top 25: No. 1 Stanford (twice), No. 2 Nebraska, No. 9 Oregon (twice), No. 16 Washington State (twice), No. 18 Washington (twice) and No. 21 USC. 

The Wildcats will host a pair of nonconference tournaments for the third straight year. Arizona opens the season with the Cactus Classic (Aug. 30-31) when it welcomes in Appalachian State, Loyola Marymount and 2018 Southern Conference Champion Samford in the two-day, six-match event. After two weeks on the road, the Cats wrap up nonconference play with the Wildcat Classic (Sept. 20-21) with 2018 SWAC Champion Alabama State, 2018 WAC Champion New Mexico State and Sacramento State coming to Tucson.

Arizona will play at least one 2018 NCAA Tournament team in each of the first 13 weeks of the season.

The Wildcats return five starters plus their libero from last season, when they went 22-11 and 11-9 in Pac-12 play, good for a fifth-place finish in the loaded league. Arizona advanced to its 29th NCAA Tournament and finished the year ranked No. 25. The Wildcats will be led by All-America honorable mention middle blocker Devyn Cross and all-Pac-12 honorable mention setter Julia Patterson.

Full Schedule:

DATE	TIME (MST)	OPPONENT	LOCATION	T.V.
Friday, Aug. 30	10 a.m.	Appalachian State	Tucson, Ariz.
Friday, Aug. 30	7 p.m.	Loyola Marymount	Tucson, Ariz.
Saturday, Aug. 31	12 p.m.	Samford	Tucson, Ariz.
Friday, Sept. 6	5 p.m.	Nebraska	San Diego, Calif.
Saturday, Sept. 7	11 a.m.	West Virginia	San Diego, Calif.
Saturday, Sept. 7	7 p.m.	@ San Diego State	San Diego, Calif.
Friday, Sept. 13	TBD	@ Kansas	Lawrence, Kan.
Saturday, Sept. 14	TBD	Morehead State	Lawrence Kan.
Saturday, Sept. 14	TBD	Syracuse	Lawrence Kan.
Friday, Sept. 20	10 a.m.	Alabama State	Tucson, Ariz.
Friday, Sept. 20	7 p.m.	New Mexico State	Tucson, Ariz.
Saturday, Sept. 21	12 p.m.	Sacramento State	Tucson, Ariz.
Thursday, Sept. 26	7 p.m.	@ Arizona State	Tempe, Ariz.	Pac-12 Arizona
Saturday, Sept. 28	7 p.m.	@ USC	Los Angeles, Calif.
Friday, Oct. 4	6 p.m.	Utah	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Arizona/Mountain
Sunday, Oct. 6	TBD	Colorado	Tucson, Ariz.
Friday, Oct. 11	8 p.m.	@ Stanford	Palo Alto, Calif.	Pac-12 Networks
Sunday, Oct. 13	TBD	@ California	Berkeley, Calif.
Friday, Oct. 18	7 p.m.	@ Washington State	Pullman, Wash.	Pac-12 Networks
Sunday, Oct. 20	12 p.m.	@ Washington	Seattle, Wash.	Pac-12 Networks
Friday, Oct. 25	7 p.m.	Oregon State	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Networks
Sunday, Oct. 27	12 p.m.	Oregon	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Networks
Friday, Nov. 1	6 p.m.	@ Colorado	Boulder, Colo.	Pac-12 Networks
Sunday, Nov. 3	12 p.m.	@ Utah	Salt Lake City, Utah	Pac-12 Arizona/Mountain
Thursday, Nov. 7	TBD	California	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Networks
Saturday, Nov. 9	TBD	Stanford	Tucson, Ariz.
Friday, Nov. 15	TBD	@ Oregon	Eugene, Ore.	Pac-12 Arizona/Oregon
Sunday, Nov. 17	TBD	@ Oregon State	Corvallis, Ore.	Pac-12 Arizona/Oregon
Friday, Nov. 22	TBD	Washington	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Arizona/Washington
Sunday, Nov. 24	TBD	Washington State	Tucson, Ariz.
Wednesday, Nov. 27	TBD	UCLA	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Arizona/Los Angeles
Saturday, Nov. 30	TBD	Arizona State	Tucson, Ariz.	Pac-12 Arizona

 All games, dates, times and locations subject to change. Home contests in bold and played in McKale Center. Neutral site contests italicized.