EVANSVILLE, Ind.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball travels to Cookeville, Tennessee taking on Tennessee Tech University on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and Friday at 6 p.m. USI desperately needs to produce a result with only four matches left, currently sitting at tenth in the Ohio Valley Conference.  
 
Coverage
Both volleyball matches on ESPN+ can be found at the links above or on the USI Volleyball schedule where you can also find the live stats. In game updates will be provided on Twitter, while pregame and post-game updates can be found on all three @USIAthletics platforms. Also, just a reminder that Cookeville is still on the central time zone.
 
USI HEADLINES
Senior Weekend Spoiled by Tigers. USI failed to break their losing streak, falling on Friday night (25-27, 25-10, 17-25, 21-25). USI had three chances to clinch set one but made crucial errors dropping their 20th first set of the season. The Eagles dominated set two with a season best .577 hitting percentage. However, USI came out slow in both the third and fourth sit digging a hole too deep to recover. The Tigers took Friday's momentum into Saturday as the Eagles were swept (28-30, 23-25, 20-25). Another devastating first set loss took the wind out of the Eagles sails as they continued to come up short in tightly contested battles. USI was out blocked 13-4 on Saturday.
 
Looking into the Books. Three different Eagles dipped into the top five/ten in the USI record books recently. Senior Paris Downing recently passed 300 career blocks climbing into tenth all-time at 303. The senior also cemented herself into tenth in block assists with 248.  Senior Carly Sobieralski racked up 80 assists last weekend jumping into fifth all-time in assists at 2,771. Former Castle product, junior Keira Moore has averaged 20,07 digs per set jumping from 11th to 7th in the all-time book with 1,225. Senior outside hitter Abby Weber jumped into the eight all-time in digs on Friday, currently sitting at 1,198.
 
Road to 1K. Senior setter, Sobieralski is only eight assists shy of 1,000 for the season. This would mark the second time the Indianapolis native has accomplished this feat with 1,153 assists in 2023. Sobieralkski looked to eclipse this mark in the regular season currently averaging 10.13 assists per match, while she averaged 2,92 in 2021, 6.32 in 2022, and 9.69 in 2023. The senior sits at fifth all-time while 77% of her assists have occurred in her junior and senior season. She also sits at 927 digs for the season.
 
Set Trends. The Eagles are now 5-21 in first sets, 13-13 in second sets, 9-17 in third sets, 8-7 in fourth sets, and 2-3 in fifth sets. Opponents have outscored the Eagles by 92 (559-651) in first sets, by 58 in third sets (536-594), and by two in fifth sets (64-66). However, the Eagles are positive in the second (598, 583) and fourth sets (345-334).
 
Road to Reaching OVC tournament. USI's two losses over the weekend severally hindered their postseason chances. The Eagles currently sit one game out of the last tournament slot behind Tennessee State University (4-10) and Eastern Illinois University (4-10). With four regular season games left against Tennessee Tech University and Morehead State University the road is complicated. However, USI owns the advantage in the tiebreaker over EIU but will be left out if the tiebreaker comes down to University of Tennessee Martin (3-10) or TSU (4-10). Therefore, over the next four matches, USI needs to go 3-1, while EIU goes 2-2 or go 4-0, while EIU goes 3-1, etc. Tennessee State and Eastern Illinois match up in the final weekend of the year. In order to advance over TSU, USI needs to go 3-1, while TSU goes 1-3, or USI goes 4-0 while TSU goes 2-2, depending on EIU's finish.
 
Scouting TTU. The Golden Eagles (19-7, OVC 8-6) sit in fifth in the OVC with multiple different winning and losing streaks. TTU rattled off an impressive 11-1 non-conference season with strong wins against Georgetown University, University of Memphis, Austin Peay State University, Towson University, and more. They continued into OVC play with four straight wins over Western Illinois University, Morehead State University, and TSU. However, the Golden Eagles came back to earth dropping their next six of seven but salvaging a series split against OVC number one Southeast Missouri State University. TTU is currently on a three-game winning streaking after sweeping Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Tennessee Tech is lead offensively by last week's AVCA National Player of the Week, Maddie Isringhausen. The senior owns a league best 4.94 kills per set and 464 total kills. Junior setter Jordan Karlen also excels for the Golden Eagles with a conference leading 11.16 assists per match, along with 3,232 career assists in only three years.
 
USI Strengths and Weaknesses Statistically. Sobieralski continues to shine, helping the Eagles rank third in the conference in assists per set (12.06) as a team. The Eagles also excel on the back line in digs ranking third (17.90 per set). USI also ranks fourth in the OVC in kills (12.81 per set). The Eagles have struggled with hitting percentage (9th, .167), opponent percentage (9th, .205), blocks (9th, 1.75 BPS), and service aces (11th, 1.22 SAPS).
 
Golden Eagles Strengths and Weaknesses Statistically. TTU attacks the net with extreme efficiency ranking first in the conference with a .218 hitting percentage. The Golden Eagles also are first in limiting opponents with a .162 opponent hitting percentage. The mark is .022 better than the second-place team. TTU is first in kills, services aces, and assists per set as well with 14.13 KPS, 1.71 SAPS, and 12.90 APS. The Golden Eagles rank sixth in digs and eighth in blocks.