UTEP volleyball hopeful for strong finish as C-USA Tournament approaches

EL PASO, Texas - The UTEP volleyball team is at a place they very much like to be in.

A place where they control their own destiny.

With a 6-4 C-USA record, the Miners are currently in second place of the Conference USA west division.

If the Conference USA Tournament would start tomorrow, UTEP would be a number two seed, but the Miners still have two more matches left to play in the regular season.

The Miners will face Southern Mississippi Friday and Saturday at UTEP's Memorial Gym.

The two matches are just as important for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles because they need to win in order to qualify of the C-USA Tournament.

UTEP is riding some momentum as they prepare to close out the regular season.

The Miners are coming off back-to-back victories at Louisiana Tech.

As the official home of the UTEP Miners, ABC-7 spoke with UTEP volleyball coach Ben Wallis.

Wallis says he's confident heading into the team's final two matches of the regular season, and he's hopeful the Miners will lock up that second seed.

"Based on all the adversity that we've dealt with with Covid and the quarantines, I feel like we have set ourselves up in a really good spot to win two matches at home," Wallis said. "I'm looking forward to getting this thing rolling. My team swept La Tech this week and we did some things really well. The one thing I challenged my team in the locker room postgame is that we got to figure out a way to make sure we have a better awareness this week, and limit out hitting errors."

The Miners could use the support of fans as they play their final matches of the regular season at home.

Friday's game against Southern Miss begins at 12 p.m., while Saturday's game starts at 11 a.m.