The UTM volleyball team will begin to defend its Ohio Valley Conference Championship this weekend as the team travels to Morehead State Friday and Eastern Kentucky Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14.

Today's match against Morehead State is set for 7 p.m., while Saturday's match against Eastern Kentucky is set for 2 p.m.

The Skyhawks enter the conference portion of their schedule with a 3-3 overall record and second- and third-place finishes in the Golden Bear Classic and the Bank of Fayetteville Invitational respectively.

Both tournament appearances were scheduled in order for the Skyhawks to play stiff competition. Both tournaments did exactly that and allowed the Skyhawks to square off against nationally ranked teams.

In this past weekend's Bank of Fayetteville (Ark.) Invitational, the Skyhawks finished second to nationally ranked Arkansas. The Skyhawks fell 3-0 to Arkansas Friday night. Arkansas won the match in three games 30-20, 30-15 and 30-22.

The Skyhawks opened the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Southern Mississippi.

The Skyhawks dropped the first game 32-30, but came back and won the second game 30-28. Southern Miss won the third game 30-22, but UTM won the match with 30-24 and 19-17 victories in games four and five.

“Our players fought to the finish in this match, squeezing out a victory where either team had an opportunity to win,” said UTM head volleyball coach Chris Rushing.

“This match helps our team even more for OVC competition.” The scores indicate the match against Southern Mississippi was a defensive battle, but Rushing said the defensive effort was the best he has seen since the two teams played last year.

Southern Miss won the five-game match last season. “They played better defense than expected,” Rushing said. The Skyhawks had 118 digs in the match against Southern Miss, and that's the fourth best record for digs in a match for UTM.

Stephanie Dubach led the Skyhawks with 29 digs, that's the sixth best for a UTM player in a match. Rachel Ahlers and Lindsey Stock were named to the Bank of Fayetteville All-Tournament team.