THE BASICS
Teams: ULM (8-15, 2-3 SBC)
UALR (6-13, 2-4 SBC)
A-State (13-7, 5-1 SBC)
Time: vs. UALR, Friday, Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m.
vs. A-State, Sunday, Oct. 15, 12 p.m.
Location: Monroe, La. (Fant-Ewing Coliseum)
Monroe, La. - The ULM volleyball team will return to Fant-Ewing Coliseum to take on Sun Belt Conference opponent Little Rock on Friday before finishing the home weekend against Arkansas State on Sunday afternoon.
NOTEABLES
-ULM has been successful on its home court this season with only one loss to Southern Miss. The Warhawks have since gone undefeated against Sun Belt Conference opponents at home with wins over Georgia State and Georgia Southern. Both of those teams are currently in the top three in the standings for the East Division of the conference. ULM will enter the weekend coming off of a tough 3-2 loss to UL-Lafayette.
-Little Rock will enter the match with only two conference wins on their record. The Trojans ended a weekend in Texas with two conference losses.
-The last time ULM and UALR met in Arkansas earlier in the season, UALR won out in three sets. The Warhawks will look to turn things around on their home court.
-Arkansas State has only one blemish on its Sun Belt record, which comes from Texas State. Last weekend the Red Wolves concluded their weekend in Texas 1-1, and they will take on UL-Lafayette before they meet the Warhawks on Sunday.
-The last time that ULM and A-State faced each other this season the Red Wolves took a 3-0 advantage.
FROM COACH HILTZ
Setting the scene: We know we didn't play well when we went up there a couple of weeks ago. This weekend is an opportunity to better our performance. This weekend is essentially the half way mark for conference play and we are right in the thick of things. We need to start winning games again though. We don't want to have to rely on other teams in order to qualify for postseason. We want to get in by beating teams.
About Little Rock: Little Rock serves the ball very well and they have several players that can and do hit very hard on offense. Their block is big (best in the SBC) so we will have to be selectively aggressive and try to keep them off balance.
About A-State: Arkansas State is still the class of the SBC. Sure they lost last week but until someone beats them in the tournament they are still the defending champions. I expect them to play as such. It will be a good test of our mental strength and our fundamentals. They beat us in just about every facet of the game last time. The goal is to win a few select areas at least and see if that can lead to enough points to put pressure on them.
How we approach the competition: We've had a solid week of practice and our last two matches we performed closer to our capabilities. We aren't quite at our best yet but we are still getting better every day. UALR and ASU this weekend are just two more exams to see how much we are learning and how much we may still have to learn.
UP NEXT
Following this weekend's matches, the Warhawks will hit the road again on the back end of the regular season and travel to face Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina next weekend.
