Men’s soccer:

— It’s not just FAIRBORN alumni who will be enjoying homecoming at Wright State this weekend. The volleyball team will celebrating in literal fashion.

The Raiders haven’t played a home match since Aug. 27, but they will play host to Oakland tonight at 7 and Youngstown State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

“We have been gone for so long, it’s relieving because travel does wear on you mentally and physically, so we’re glad to be home and excited to be at home back-to-back weekends,” coach Susan Clements said.

WSU prevented the Grizzlies from grabbing a share of the Horizon League regular-season title last year with a 3-1 win at Oakland as part of a strong finish that saw the Raiders win three of their final four matches.

“They’ve had an energy all week knowing that we’re facing Oakland,” Clements said. “We know Oakland has had this date circled and they’re going to rise to that challenge.”

Despite the late hot streak, the Raiders finished eighth and failed to qualify for the conference tournament.

But Clements said she thinks the momentum from that run has carried into this season, and the Raiders are confident they can break into the top six this year and qualify for the conference tournament.

“We certainly carried it over,” she said. “We could see how we finished the season was such a positive for the way we started the season going into league play. The key we focused on was getting better throughout the season last year. Knowing we continued to get better showed them that if you focus on that and not get too far ahead of yourselves, you will reach the goals you want.”

WSU returned five of six starters from last year, but the loss was a big one in four-year starter Marisa Aiello. But the Raiders had an ideal replacement ready in junior Megan Hopkins, who was recruited as a middle but played outside her first two seasons.

With Hopkins back in the middle, WSU ranks second in the HL in blocks and digs. Hopkins is second in the conference in blocks, and junior Jessie Thornton is first in digs.

Clements said the key to making a push for a spot in the tournament is becoming a more efficient hitting squad.

“Defensively we’ve not been where we are now, and that’s important,” she said. “Really good defensive teams put themselves in position to have opportunities to win. Now we’ve got to be able to terminate the ball and not have the errors that give the other team points.”

The Raiders saw their threegame winning streak snapped Tuesday with a 4-2 loss at North Carolina State, but they will be back home at 7 Saturday night to take on Belmont as part of homecoming weekend.

Women’s soccer:

The HL-leading Raiders will put a four-game unbeaten streak on the line Sunday at Youngstown State. WSU is tied with Detroit atop the conference standings at 2-0-1 after the teams tied 0-0 on Sept. 16.

The winter sports season officially kicks off Sunday when the Raiders men’s and women’s teams take part at the Butler Double Dual.

Swimming: