MARSHALL, Texas – Currently riding a five-game winning streak, which includes 15 straight set wins, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball will begin conference play this week with three road games beginning on Tuesday. ETBU will travel to the University of Texas at Dallas to start the week before ending the weekend again both Belhaven University and Louisiana College.

This past week saw ETBU go 4-1 beginning with a loss to Wiley College in which they were swept in three straight sets. Following the loss, ETBU would win the next five games in straight sets over Centenary College, Linfield College, Howard Payne University, Austin College, and Sul Ross State University, with the latter four coming in the Austin College tournament.

For her performance over the tournament, Sydney Lopez was named a member of the Austin College All-Tournament team as she compiled 46 kills and 52 digs.
Lopez remains ETBU's leader in kills with 115 while Elyse Shaw already has 210 assists on the season. Annie Harris has a team-leading 28 blocks on the season while Julia De Los Santos remains ETBU's leader with 157 digs.

But the challenge for ETBU is about to get tougher as they begin their conference season against UTD, BU, and LC. Last season, ETBU shocked the then #13 Comets at home in five sets only to be swept in the rematch at Richardson one month later. UTD (4-2), is coming off a big win against #5 Trinity and are currently led by Jillian Via, who has 55 kills while Caroline Shecterle has 127 assists.

Even with a winning streak coming in, the Tigers and head coach Keely Peterson understand the mindset heading to Richardson. "I think we have to remain consistent," said Coach Peterson. "We don't have time in a game against such a talented and well-coached team like UTD to ride a roller coaster. We have to come in and be consistent from the getgo. We don't have time to figure things out. You have to be ready to go. The girls know that going into it."

ETBU will then head to Jackson, Mississippi this Friday to take on BU (7-1), a team coming off three of four wins at the Belhaven/Millsaps Invitational. 2017 saw each team take a road win on the other's court as ETBU swept BU in Jackson while the Blazers took a five-set win in Marshall. Currently, Lauren Whiting leads with 74 kills while Meghan Luker tallies 130 assists.

The Tigers will end the weekend with a trip to Alexandria to meet with LC (1-5), a team that picked up their first win against Rust College last Saturday. ETBU had no trouble in sweeping both games against the Wildcats last season. Jaslyn Bright leads LC with 20 kills while Paris Babino has a team-leading 55 kills.

ETBU's first game starts at 7:00 PM this Tuesday at UTD. The Friday game at BU will be at 7:00 PM also while the Saturday contest in Louisiana starts at 2:00 PM.