COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team return home after five-consecutive road matches to host two home conference matches. The Lions will face Eastern New Mexico on Friday and Western New Mexico on Saturday.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (9-7, 4-2 LSC) vs. Eastern New Mexico (7-9, 4-2 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 6 at 5 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce vs. Western New Mexico (4-10, 4-2 LSC)
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce, Texas
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: lionathletics.com/live
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
The Lions are coming off of a sweep of Southeastern Oklahoma State. It was the third consecutive road win for the Lions, which included two road wins against Lone Star Conference opponents. Head coach Craig Case has stressed with his team the importance of being able to win on the road, because he knows if his team wants to realize their ambitions for this season, it is a skill they will have to develop.
 
"Winning on the road, there is some skill to it," Case said. "We have been practicing that. If we keep winning and we find our way into the national tournament, we are going to be playing on the road. We want to be the better road team.  We don't want to get into the NCAA tournament just because we were a good home team. I think the biggest thing is just being focused and now matter where we are, we should be focused on playing our game and not get too worked up about the factors outside of our control."
 
The Lions pulled off their second sweep in a row, in part due to the Lion defense. While Case pointed out the play of middle blockers Shelley Chapron and Jaslyn Wacker and liberos Lacie Jessup and Savannah Rutledge, he was effusive in his praise of Layne Little and her development into a six-rotation player this season.
 
"Layne has really spent a lot of time developing her back row game to where she is a true six-rotation outside hitter," Case said. "All the outside hitters in our league are six-rotation outsides. If you want to be mentioned in the same breath as Hailey Roberts or Brianna Sotello or Krystal Faison, you have got to be a six-rotation outside and Layne has really embraced that challenge. She is really working on being a six-rotation player for us. It is showing and she has done a great job. We are really happy with the progress that she has made as well."
 
The Lions will now shift gears as they look to defend their home court. They will first host Eastern New Mexico, who is 4-2 in conference action and is also on a three-game win streak.
 
"Eastern New Mexico is a quality volleyball program," Case said. "Every year, they are good. Every year they find a way to win. We've got nothing but respect for that program and their coaching staff."
 
The Lions will then face Western New Mexico, who also is 4-2 in conference play. Case sees a well-prepared team that will challenge the Lions.
 
"Western New Mexico is [also a quality program,]" he said. "The head coach there has more than 700 wins. I don't know that any other team in the league prepares their team better than he does. So they are going to be ready to go as well."
 
Case knows that his team needs to defend their home court if they want to stay in the hunt for a conference championship. While he is pleased with his team's play so far in conference, he knows there is still many matches to play, and every home match is critical.
 
"It is no secret in our league this year. If you want a shot at winning this league, you've got to win on the road," Case said. "But that also means that you are winning at home. We have got to defend our home court. This weekend is going to be just as difficult as any that we've had. We've got to make sure, if we are going to come out on the right end of it and be able to pick up the wins this weekend, that we understand the game play, we've got attention to detail and we go out and put forth the effort we need to beat two really good teams."

Tickets for the matches are available at WeAreLionsTix.com, by calling (903) 468-8756, by visiting the Lion Sales & Service Box Office in the Field House, or by purchase at the door. Fans who attend the Lions' home volleyball matches can use their ticket stubs to receive free admission to the soccer matches. Friday's 5 p.m. volleyball ticket stub will admit fans into Friday's soccer match. Saturday's volleyball ticket stub will allow free admission to Sunday's soccer match.