Courtesy: UNOPrivateers.com/Aashish Lamichhane UNOPrivateers.com UNO had a lot to celebrate the last time against Denver (front) and Heather Ford (above) will look to join her teammates in celebrating again this weekend.

DENVER - With destiny in their hands, the University of New Orleans can take some large steps toward a Sun Belt Conference West Division championship when they hit the road to contest Denver on Thursday at 7 p.m. and North Texas on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Despite coming out on the wrong side of the result in 4 of 5 matches prior to this road trip, UNO (15-10, 8-5 SBC) finds itself in a tie for first place in the West Division with DU (13-14, 8-5 SBC). No longer with a three-match advantage in the standings, the Privateers will need to extend their winning streak against the Pioneers to three matches to hop back in the driver's seat.

Regardless of result against DU, UNO will still have work to do in order to finalize an invitation to the conference tournament, which begins Nov. 19 in Bowling Green, Ky. Any combination of Privateer wins and NT (10-17, 6-7 SBC) losses equaling two will get UNO into the tournament.

To obtain the team's goals, head coach Jozsef Forman will look to his players to minimalize the errors that proved costly during their four-match losing skid and nearly sent the squad to a defeat in their most recent contest against Florida Alantic.

Though Maria Szivos and Lindsey Loyd typically take the headlines on the offensive side, Kaley Hubbard and Vesna Jelic have put up impressive numbers of late.

Hubbard hit .363 over the last two matches and currently sits atop the team leaderboard with a .303 clip. Jelic had a career-high 15 kills against FAU and coupled with 12 digs, notched her fourth double-double of the season.

While the offensive leaders are typically not the same from match to match, the defensive leader is.

Nicky Valenti has totaled 478 digs to date this season, the sixth best single-season ranking in school history. While Jayne Duncan's 640 digs may be out of reach, Valenti is on pace to pass her personal best of 531 set during the 2007 season and ranked third historically.

DU had a four-match win streak snapped in their most recent contest, a 3-1 loss to UALR. The once strong homecourt advantage at Hamilton Gym has not been as favorable with the Pioneers splitting 16 home matches.

Emmy Davidsmeyer is one of the top hitters in the league with 4.35 kills per set and a .356 hitting percentage to her name. Davidsmeyer also contributes on the block with .95 stuffs a set.

When Davidsmeyer is not leading the way, head coach Beth Kuwata looks to players like Jordan Raines (2.87 k/s) and libero Kacie Wikierak (3.72 digs a frame) to provide the consistency.

Five set matches are relatively commonplace for NT, as they have played 10 matches that have gone the distance. Fighting for a spot in the conference tournament, the Mean Green have won 3 of 5 matches to snap a three-match losing streak.

NT has yet to win against Forman, posting an 0-5 mark, which includes two losses on their home floor.

Amy Huddleston is the top offensive player for the Mean Green with 3.33 kills a set with two other players averaging over two kills a frame. Kayla Saey is the setter of note with 9.12 assists a frame while Sarah Willey tops the digs department with 3.02 digs a frame.

Thursday's match against DU will be available on UNO Vision. For more information, please visit UNOPrivateers.com.