COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team will host their first home game of the season on Tuesday after playing eight games away from home to start the season. The Lions bring in Dallas Baptist, which will be the Lions' last game before the conference schedule begins on Friday.
 

WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (3-5) vs. Dallas Baptist (4-3) 
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m.
WHERE: The Field House in Commerce Texas
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: http://lionathletics.com/live
TICKETS: Click HERE
 
The Lions are coming off of three losses in their four matches last week. The Lions fell in four sets to No. 12 Wayne State before sweeping Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday. The Lions then lost two five-set battles to No. 22 Colorado School of Mines and Colorado-Colorado Springs on Saturday.
 
"The goal this whole preseason was to play the best teams we could play," said head coach Craig Case. "And we have obviously played some really good teams this year. Over the first two weekends, we have played a total of four top-25 teams. Saturday night we lost to Colorado Springs on the road. They are going to be knocking on the door, just like we are. Last year they finished the season around where we were, ranked around 10 in the region. We are very even and we knew that was going to be a really good match."
 
Although the end results were not what Case hoped for, he was pleased with the level of play from his team, compared with the first week of the season. He knows if his team can sustain that level of play, they will be tough to beat.
 
"I think the positive thing is, we had some spurts where we played really, really good volleyball to where we could compete with anybody," he said. "The goal this week moving forward is to find a way to sustain that level of volleyball performance to where we can be beating those teams rather than losing to them."
 
Last week, Case said he hoped to see his team take a step forward in a pre-conference schedule that was meant to help prepare his team for the Lone Star Conference season. Case feels his team is closer to where they need to be than they were at the start of the week.
 
"We got swept by both top-25 teams the first week," he said. "Then last week we went four with Wayne State and honestly we were in the driver seat in the fourth set against Colorado Mines. We were right where we wanted to be. Now we just have to figure out how to stay ahead in those situations and to keep the momentum. I think we took a big jump forward in terms of level of play. I think the next step forward for us is consistency."
 
The Lions will face Dallas Baptist on Tuesday, their final match before beginning their conference schedule. Case knows this game is important to continue to improve, and he knows it won't be an easy team to beat, even in the Field House.
 
"They are a good blocking team," Case said of DBU. "They are highly skilled. We know a lot of their players. We watched them play in high school and club ball. Their coach does a great job with their program. It is going to be a good match. I'm excited to be at home to be able to play in front of our fans and to finally be able to play in the friendly confines of the Field House. I know our players are excited. It should be an exciting match. Hopefully, just as we did last week, hopefully we take another step forward from this past weekend and have a good performance tomorrow night."
 
The Lions went 10-2 last season at home and Case hopes that trend can continue during the 2017 season. He hopes Lion fans continue to make the Field House one of the toughest places to play in the conference and all of Division II.
 
"We had a lot of success at home last year, he said. "Most of that is because of the energy that our fans and the people that support our program bring. If you are wearing blue and gold, and you are the proper Lions and you come into this Field House, you feel really good about things. That's the step that top-25 and nationally-ranked programs do is they establish a home court advantage. Last year, we only dropped two matches at home. We are excited to try and build upon that and to continue to engage and excite our fan base. In return, we take a lot from them too. It's a fun environment and our players love playing at home. We've got great fans and it is unmatched by most people in Division II volleyball."