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OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team will head to Texas and New Mexico this weekend to face conference foes Texas-Pan American and New Mexico State. The Wolverines and Broncs will do battle in Edinburg, Texas, at 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT on Thursday night while UVU and NM State will go head-to-head in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. MT.
 
The Wolverines will enter the weekend with a 9-15 overall record and 4-4 in Western Athletic Conference play. UVU has dropped its last three contests including a pair of matches on the road last week. Utah Valley began the week with a five-set non-conference loss at Southern Utah before falling to conference foe Seattle U in the Emerald City in four sets on Saturday.
 
In Saturday's match against SU, the Wolverines managed to overcome a five-point deficit to take the opening set but then dropped the next three games to lose the contest by a score of 25-22, 9-25, 16-25, 21-25. Senior Kalani Norris and sophomore Kiahna Steiner paced UVU in the contest with 11 and 10 respective kills. Steiner also added a team-high five blocks while Norris chipped in six digs and an ace.
 
After dropping their last three matches, UVU now finds itself in fifth place in the conference standings. Missouri-Kansas City leads the league with an unblemished 8-0 record while New Mexico State and Bakersfield are tied for second at 6-3. Seattle U is next as it sits in fourth place at 5-3, while Grand Canyon is in sixth (4-6), UTPA seventh (2-7) and Chicago State eighth (0-9).
 
Junior Lauren Bakker will enter the week just four solo blocks shy of becoming UVU's all-time leader in that category. The middle blocker, who leads UVU on the season in kills (2.71 per set average), blocks (1.12), hitting percentage (.345) and points (293.5), will enter the week with 43 career solo blocks, which is three shy of Jessica Endres' (2004-07) current record of 46.
 
Senior libero McKenna Tait finds herself atop the WAC leaders in service aces and ranked 17th nationally in service aces with 41 on the season (0.46), while Bakker's .345 attack percentage is good enough for to rank her second in the league.
 
About Texas-Pan American
The Broncs will enter Thursday's match 5-18 on the season and 2-7 in WAC play. UTPA has dropped its last three contests and holds its two conference wins on the season over Chicago State and GCU. Texas-Pan American was picked to finish seventh in the league.
 
Haley Durham leads the Broncs in kills with a 2.70 per set average and blocks (1.05) while Maria Kliefoth paces the team with a .281 hitting percentage.
Thursday's contest will be the second meeting of the season between the Wolverines and Broncs after UVU swept UTPA earlier this month in Orem (25-17, 25-12, 25-20). Utah Valley will enter the match with a 24-1 all-time series advantage over Texas-Pan American.
 
About New Mexico State
The Aggies are 12-9 on the season and tied for second in the WAC with a 6-3 league record. NM State will enter the week off of a five-set loss at Grand Canyon last Saturday. The Aggies will host Seattle U on Thursday before welcoming UVU to town on Saturday. NMSU was picked to win the league this year after taking home both the regular season and tournament titles last year.
 
Bradley Nash paces New Mexico State in kills with a 2.32 per set average. Gwen Murphy and Sasha-Lee Thomas leads the Aggies in blocks with respective averages of 1.16 and 1.12, while Murphy is also atop the team in hitting percentage with a .303 average.
 
Saturday's match will be the second meeting on the season between UVU and NM State after the Aggies took the prior season meeting in five sets in Orem. New Mexico State holds a slight 2-1 all-time series advantage between the two programs.
 
Up Next for the Wolverines
UVU will return home for its final homestand of the season next week. The Wolverines will begin the stretch against Chicago State (Nov. 6) and Missouri-Kansas City (Nov. 8) next week before welcoming Utah State to town on Monday, Nov. 10 for the final home match of the 2014 campaign.