Marshall University’s volleyball team travels to Alabama to face conference opponent University of Alabama at Birmingham 7 p.m. Friday at Bartow Arena.

The Herd (15-9) is 6-5 against Conference USA opponents while the Blazers (8-18) are 0-11 in league play.

Despite UAB’s performance this season, Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs said his team has to take the Blazers seriously if it expects to come away with the victory.

“They’re struggling to get wins, but they’re very well coached,” Jacobs said. “So, I’m sure they’re going to have a game plan and probably come with some adjustments from our last match.”

Earlier this month, the Herd defeated the Blazers, which rank 11th and 12th in hitting percentage and assists, respectively, out of the 13 teams in C-USA, 3-1 at the Cam Henderson Center.

Jacobs said it is crucial his team finishes its final five games of the regular season strong in order to hold on to the eighth spot in the conference tournament, which begins Nov. 20 in San Antonio, Texas.

“I knew we’d have to fight to get in the tournament this year,” Jacobs said. “But right now, our backs are against the wall. We’re sitting in eighth. We can’t afford to lose anymore ground. Lose any ground and we’re out of the tournament.”

Marshall junior Allie Kellerman, who is second in the conference with 454 digs, said the team has to move on from its 3-2 loss against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Oct. 23 and focus solely on the road ahead.

“I think our play against Charlotte was not our best display of what we’re able to do as a team,” Kellerman said. “We weren’t cohesive, and we made a lot of errors that we haven’t been making in games past. I guess it’s more of an eye-opener to see what we’re struggling with, and we have to fix that.”

Kellerman said the goal is for the team to win every game left on its schedule.

“I would love to win out,” Kellerman said. “But in order to make that a reality, we have to have the right mentality the rest of the way.”

Malcolm Walton can be contacted at [email protected].