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Sports

No time to relax

Weekend matches will affect tourney seeding

by RONNIE TURNER 
The Daily Cougar

Road trips have been a thing of uncertainty for the Houston volleyball team this season.

The Cougars' play away from home has been inconsistent, as evidenced by their 7-10 road record. The team has already played its final regular season home game, so playing on the road again becomes a difficult test.

Houston (17-12 overall, 8-6 Conference USA) will have a chance to straighten things out when it faces conference rival Southern Methodist at 7 p.m. tonight in Dallas, a match that will be televised nationally on CSTV. The Cougars will then travel to Tulsa for a 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon match to conclude their regular season conference schedule.

"I think it'll be important for us to go on the road this weekend, because we plan on winning the conference tournament," head coach Bill Walton said. "Which means we'll have to go on the road in the NCAA Tournament. We better use this weekend to figure out how to get better on the road."

SMU (14-14, 5-9 C-USA) has dropped three of its last four matches, the lone victory coming in a 3-2 decision over Houston on Oct. 29, a loss the Cougars will try to avenge tonight. Tulsa (24-6, 11-3 C-USA) holds a half-game lead over runner-up Marshall and needs to avoid a sub-par weekend in order to clinch the C-USA regular season title. 

This weekend's matches are crucial because the outcomes could have a significant impact on the seeding for the coming C-USA Tournament. The teams that finish with the top four conference records will earn first-round byes in the tournament, and Houston is currently tied with Alabama-Birmingham for sixth place and a game behind Memphis (23-7, 9-5 C-USA) and Tulane (13-10, 9-5 C-USA), which are tied for fourth place. 

A sweep of this weekend's matches by Houston and 0-2 performances by Memphis and Tulane would thrust the Cougars into the top fourth of the standings.
 

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