CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel volleyball team opens up its Southern Conference schedule this week, hosting Mercer on Friday and visiting Western Carolina on Sunday.

"We are excited to get into SoCon play after a strong preseason," said head coach Craig Mosqueda. "We have taken a huge step forward in how we compete and how we have been practicing and I believe all of our hard work will pay off. Opening against Mercer and Western Carolina is not an easy task. Both are great teams with great coaches and we will need to come out and stay focused and compete. Both teams play a different style of volleyball, but our focus this year has been on what we are doing on our side of the net."

This week begins a stretch of six straight SoCon matches for the Bulldogs who will be at home for three of them.

The Bulldogs enter SoCon play after finishing the non-conference slate with a 6-9 record. They play one more non-conference match on Oct. 13 at South Carolina State.

Outside hitter Moriah Smith still leads the SoCon with 238 kills and 4.10 kills per set. She also ranks second in Division I in total attacks and 10th in in total kills.

The Citadel finished non-conference play last weekend by hosting the Bulldog Invitational. The Bulldogs finished 2-2 at the tournament with wins over Savannah State and Charleston Southern.

In the match against Charleston Southern, the Bulldogs and Buccaneers battled back-and-forth in a 25 play, 75 touch rally that was awarded the NCAA Volleyball Play of the Week. The play received 40 percent of 2,095 votes on the NCAA Volleyball Twitter poll.

The last time the Bulldogs met up with Mercer, they took the Bears to five sets in McAlister Field House. The Bulldogs last faced Western Carolina in the opening round of the 2015 SoCon Championships.
Mercer enters Friday's contest with an 8-4 record overall and 1-2 on the road. Western Carolina is 5-8 this season and 3-1 at home.

The Bulldogs' match against Mercer is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. on Friday. Sunday's match at Western Carolina is scheduled for 3 p.m. Live video and stats will be available for both matches.

For more information on The Citadel volleyball follow @CitadelVB or visit CitadelSports.com.