The Georgia Southern Eagles are currently 18 games into their 30 game season with a record of 3-15. What does that mean?

It means the Eagles have only twelve games left in their season and will have to win every single one of them to have a record of .500. What are the chances of that happening? That’s unclear, but the Eagles will try to do it anyway, as they return to Hanner to battle two more conference opponents, UL Monroe and UL Lafayette.

UL Monroe (Fri, Oct. 17, 6 p.m.):

It’s not often the Eagles are able to say they’re better than another team, especially in terms of league standings, but the Eagles are able to do just that against the Warhawks. The Warhawks have yet to win a match on the road and have only won one match against a conference opponent. If that’s not enough to give the Eagles hope for a win, they’ve actually already beaten the Warhawks in Monroe, Louisiana just a few weeks ago. The only thing the Eagles could do better against UL Monroe is to actually shut them out this time instead of having the Warhawks win the first set like they did last time. Home-field advantage is definitely going to be on the Eagles’ side considering they’re returning to Hanner, and if UL Monroe couldn’t win a match in an opponent’s arena, then they’re really going to have a hard time keeping focus during the Eagles’ return to Hanner. The one Warhawk the Eagles will truly have to look out for is Hadley Swartz, who boasted 17 kills in her match against the Eagles.

UL Lafayette (Sun, Oct. 19, noon):

History tends to repeat itself, and it definitely is with the Eagles going up against the Ragin’ Cajuns immediately after going up against the Warhawks. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the momentum from the win against the Warhawks just a few weeks ago was not enough to carry them through a win against the Ragin’ Cajuns. Currently, UL Lafayette is boasting a 15-5 record but is only 5-5 against conference opponents. The Eagles don’t have much going for them, besides the fact that the Ragin’ Cajuns are 3-3 on the road, and that the Ragin’ Cajuns could barely edge off Troy, only beating them 3-2. The Eagles defeated Troy 3-0 just a little more than a week ago. With such a bleak record, it’s hard to call any match a must win, but if the Eagles expect to have any chance at finishing this season with a .500 record, then these nearly impossible matchups against teams with much better records are going to have to come with some sort of miracle for the Eagles.

Winning at home is always hard, but if the Eagles don’t manage to hold off UL Monroe and UL Lafayette, then the return to Hanner won’t be a delightful one and the Eagles will have their first losing season in a very long time.