UTSA to hit road this weekend for pair of matches

SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will return to the road this weekend for a pair of matches. The Roadrunners, who have won four consecutive matches, will square off with Southern Miss at 7 p.m. on Friday before taking on Middle Tennessee State at 1 p.m. two days later.

Since dropping the first set at Tulane two weeks ago, UTSA (12-6, 4-0 C-USA) has won 12 straight, including the final three with the Green Wave and in sweeps of Louisiana Tech, FIU and Florida Atlantic. In Sunday’s defeat of Florida Atlantic, freshman Dajana Boskovic increased her double-digit kills streak to seven matches with a career-high 17. Boskovic tallied the best hitting percentage in a C-USA match this season (.640) against the Owls and hit .500 overall in the Roadrunners first-ever Conference USA home matches.

The Golden Eagles (10-8, 1-2 C-USA) enter the match on a high note following their first C-USA win of the season last Sunday against Rice. After not playing a single five-set match through its first 13 contests, Southern Miss has gone the distance in five of its last six outings, including a current four-match streak. The Golden Eagles are 1-5 in those matches with defeats to conference opponents UAB and North Texas.

Sunday’s matchup with the Blue Raiders (10-6, 2-1 C-USA) could have long-range implications for both teams’ at-large NCAA Tournament hopes, as UTSA has a RPI of 70 while MTSU sits three spots ahead at 67. Middle Tennessee enters the weekend having won five of its last seven contests and it sports C-USA’s top attacker by hitting percentage in Tyler Richardson (.412).