The Cougars look to remain undefeated at home this weekend against Conference USA opponents Central Florida and Southern Miss after dropping a loss to Marshall on the road to snap a four-match win streak.
Houston (11-8, 3-3 C-USA) heads into the weekend with an undefeated 4-0 record at home. UCF (13-7) is ranked second in C-USA with a 5-2 record, and Southern Miss (11-10, 3-4 C-USA) is coming off a win against C-USA rival Memphis on Sunday.
Head coach Bill Walton said the Cougars must maintain blocking defense and not suffer from breakdowns in service reception to attain victory.
"We are just looking to get consistent all the time and not have those letdowns that we’ve had," he said.
Walton used last weekend’s games as an example of the inconsistencies the Cougars are striving to remedy.
"Against East Carolina, we had eight aces and only four or five missed serves," he said. "The next day against Marshall, we only had one ace and 10 service errors. We are trying to smooth that out."
Senior setter Kelsey King said the Cougars’ strategy on Friday will be to pacify the Knight’s three main hitters with consistent blocking and not let them run any slides.
"UCF is a really strong team, and so we know that we are going to have to play our best in order to beat them," King said. "I’m hoping that we can have a really good blocking game. That’s what will get us pumped and motivated."
The Cougars aren’t overlooking Southern Miss either. Although the Golden Eagles’ record isn’t as strong as the Knights’, they have been known to put together a few surprises, Walton said. Both teams beat Marshall, whom the Cougars lost to Sunday.
"Southern Miss has victories over East Carolina and Marshall, and so does Central Florida," Walton said. "We can’t think of anyone as being the weaker opponent because everyone in the conference has been able to put things together in a weekend and play really well."
King said the Cougars must stay focused on their own game, and not let the other team’s emotions affect their energy or confidence.
"(The Knights) play really emotional, and we are going to have to make sure that we stay focused on ourselves," she said. "If they get a big play, then so what? They get a big play. We need to stay even-keeled the whole time."
Admission to games is free with a valid CougarOne card. Houston faces UCF at 7 p.m. on Friday and Southern Miss at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Athletics/Alumni Center.
