RICHMOND, Ky. - Coach Lori Duncan's Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team is looking forward to unpacking its bags and having a full week of practice in preparation for some action on its own home court.

Eastern, who has played all 11 matches away from home thus far this year, will open its home season against Ohio Valley Conference foe Murray State University Friday in Alumni Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. The following day, the Colonels will face the University of Tennessee-Martin at 2:00 p.m.

EKU, 3-8, 0-2 OVC, played three games last week, falling short of victory each time. Last Tuesday at Xavier University, the Colonels lost to the Lady Musketeers, 10-15,15-17, 8-15.

"We had a lot of girls to struggle... which they normally do not do," said EKU head coach Lori Duncan. "We are still concentrating on the lineup, trying to find the best six players."

Last Friday, the Colonels faced Middle Tennessee at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, TN. Playing four games, the Colonels started off with a victory (15-6), then lost the next three games (9-15,13-15,5-15).

"I was quite disappointed with this match. I told the team that Middle Tennessee would attempt to slow us down to play at their pace and that is what they did," Duncan said.

Less than 24 hours later, Eastern met Tennessee Tech, losing three out of four (6-15, 7-15,15-11,15-17).

Courtney Bowen, a 5-11 junior outside hitter and co-captain of the EKU squad, led the team with an average of 4.00 kills per game last week. Becky Galati, a 5-10 outside hitter and last week's OVC Freshman Player of the Week, had a cumulative average of 4.55 digs per game.