OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University head wrestling coach Greg Williams released his inaugural schedule in the Big 12 Conference on Thursday and it features a challenging slate of 14 duals and a trio of tournaments.
 
Five of the 14 duals will take place at home in 2015-16, as well as the hosting of the annual UVU Open.
 
"Our schedule is always as difficult as we can make it, and this year is no exception," said Williams who is entering his 10th year at the helm of UVU wrestling this fall. "Everything that we're doing with this program is progressing and the Big 12 is huge step in that direction. We're excited about that prospect and we're looking forward to the future teams that we'll put out on the mat in the coming years."
 
In the five home dual meets on this year's schedule, the Wolverines will welcome a pair of Pac-12 foes to town in Boise State and Arizona State, two conference foes in North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and regional foe Grand Canyon in the regular-season finale.
 
Following an intrasquad exhibition tune-up on Oct. 30, UVU will head to Ypsilanti, Michigan to officially begin its 2015-16 campaign at the Eastern Michigan Duals on Nov. 7. There the Wolverines will face-off against Michigan State and Illinois of the Big Ten Conference, as well as Rider of the Eastern Wrestling League. Utah Valley will then head to the West Coast two weeks later for a date with Pac-12 foe Oregon State on Nov. 21. The Wolverines will close the month by welcoming Boise State to town for their home opener on Nov. 28.
 
UVU will take a break from dual competition in the month of December to compete in a pair of tournaments. The Wolverines will take part at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 4-5 before heading to Reno, Nevada for the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 20.
 
Following Christmas break, the Wolverines will then take part in their third straight tournament when they host the ninth annual UVU Open on Jan. 9. Utah Valley will close the month of January with a trio of duals, as it will head to California to face Stanford on Jan. 15 and CSU Bakersfield on Jan. 16 before returning to the PE Building to welcome Arizona State to town on Jan. 21.
 
The Wolverines will then begin their first season of action in the Big 12 by facing off against five familiar conference foes in February. UVU will welcome former Western Wrestling Conference counterparts South Dakota State and North Dakota State to town on Feb. 4 and 5, respectively, before heading to the Front Range to face Air Force (Feb. 11), Northern Colorado (Feb. 12) and Wyoming (Feb. 13) the next week. UVU will then return home to host GCU on Feb. 20 in its final regular-season contest before heading to its first trip to the Big 12 Championships two weeks later.

"Your entire preseason and conference matches should all help you get one step closer to qualifying your guys for nationals and you do that at your conference tournament. Every match that we wrestle is a learning experience and we want to continually improve so that at the end of the season we are better wrestlers than we were at the beginning," added Williams. "This schedule is definitely going to help prepare us for our first trip to the Big 12 Championships."
 
The two-day 2016 Big 12 Championships will feature 10 teams this year and will run March 5-6 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The NCAA Championships will then follow UVU's first trip to the Big 12 Championships on March 17-19 at historic Madison Square Garden in New York City.