By Hugo E. Rodríguez
Sports Editor

Some would call it swagger. Others would call it boastfulness.

The UTB/TSC Volleyball Team would probably just call it confidence.

Through confidence, this team that went 10-28 overall and 8-6 in the Red River Athletic Conference in 2008 turned the tables on everyone and is now 26-1 overall and 13-0 in conference.

Oh, and have we mentioned they’re ranked ninth nationally?

The Scorpions will play their last games of the season on Friday and Saturday, but coaches and players are already looking to the RRAC championship and beyond.

"My expectations are very high, as we only have three games, easy games," setter Daianarah Bracero said in Spanish. "So, we’re getting ready for nationals."

Her views were echoed by middle blocker Talita Milasauskas.

"We have been through so many games already this season, and it’s very good to be coming all this way winning, but we hope [to] keep winning to the end," Milasauskas said. "Like [Bracero] said, our goal is being over there [in nationals] on Dec. 5, playing the final game, but we know that it will take hard work to be there, so that’s what we’re trying to do all the time."

The Scorpions have not lost a single game since Aug. 29, when they were defeated by No. 6 Georgetown (Ky.) College.

And while Head Coach Todd Lowery acknowledges that anything can happen in a conference tournament, he has no doubts about his team’s performance.

"I think as long as we take care of what we can control, I don’t think there’s anybody out there that can do anything to take us out of that, and that’s the key sometimes," Lowery said. "We just have to take care of our side of the net and everybody has to worry about stopping us."

The Scorpions’ biggest competition will come from the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the conference, positions currently held by defending conference champion Wiley College and Southwestern Assemblies of God University, respectively.

The Scorpions, currently the No. 1 seed in the tournament, will get a bye in the quarterfinals and then face the winner of seeds 4 and 5 in the semifinals before facing the winner of tournament seeds 2 and 3, which will likely be a match between Wiley and Southwestern Assemblies of God.

Bracero sees no troubles looming from either of those teams.

"They have a good team," the setter said, her face breaking into a smile. "But every time they come play against us, they know they can’t."

Milasauskas agreed.

"[Bracero] is very right, I mean, they’re not hard," she said. "But we also keep in mind that they always come to win, because we are the first ones, they want to win against us."

Both girls, members of the 2007 volleyball team that headed to the NAIA national tournament, are itching to return.

"Our goal is to be in the final game, which is in Dec. 5," Bracero said. "And we have the team, the only thing we need is to be there."

Milasauskas said the team knows "that it will take hard work to be there, so that’s what we’re trying to do all the time, playing hard, work hard all of the time, to get our goal."

The team’s hard work has been paying off, as Bracero was named RRAC Setter of the Week, alongside teammate Arlene Ferreira, who was named RRAC Volleyball Player of the Week and Hitter of the Week.