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RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky will look to continue its strong play of late this weekend on a two-match road trip. The Colonels, winners of four of their last five, will play at Tennessee Tech on Friday at 8 p.m. ET, and Jacksonville State on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

EKU has won four straight at home. The team’s only loss in its last five matches was a 3-2 setback at Austin Peay. The Colonels led 2-1 in that match before the Lady Govs staged a comeback.

Both opponents this weekend are ahead of Eastern in the conference standings. The Colonels (4-13, 4-4 OVC) sit in fifth place with an even conference mark. Tennessee Tech (6-12, 5-4 OVC) is in fourth place. Jacksonville State (16-5, 9-0 OVC) has not lost a league match this season and is holding on to first place by one game.

Offensively, the Colonels have been led this season by junior Lauren Snyder and senior Lindsey Loescher, however the team’s strong play has been fueled by contributions from everyone on the court. Snyder has a team best 200 kills while Loescher is second with 173. Both players are tied with 14 service aces, but Kelsey Rose and #Abby O’Connor# are close behind with 13 and 12 respectively.

Over the last five matches, junior Autumn Harms has a .317 attack percentage and has averaged 2.71 kills and 0.76 blocks per set. Sophomore Hannah Groudle has averaged 2.10 kills and a team-best 0.86 blocks per set over that same time. Amanda Fago has contributed 1.27 kills and 0.55 digs per set. In EKU’s last five matches, Rose has eight aces and has averaged 2.38 digs per set. O’Connor also has eight aces and has posted 6.43 digs per set. Setter Kate Hendle has averaged 12.9 assists and 2.52 digs per set over the last five matches.

Hendle was selected as the Ohio Valley Conference Co-Setter of the Week on Monday. She averaged 12.92 assists per set last week and moved into sixth place on EKU’s career assists list with 2,031.

The Golden Eagles have won three straight and five of their last six. Leah Meffert leads Tennessee Tech with 264 kills and 23 aces. Kelsey Gray has a team-best 77 blocks and averages 1.04 blocks per set. Katie Kenline leads the team with 353 digs and Melanie Culp has a team-high 727 assists.

The Gamecocks carry a 10-match winning streak into the weekend. Jacksonville State will host second place Morehead State on Friday. JSU is led by Brittney Whitten and Caitlin Vorbeck. Whitten has a team-best 265 kills and is second on the squad with 24 aces. Vorbeck has 202 kills and is second on the team with 33 blocks. Kara Slater has a team-high 43 blocks.