RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech volleyball is off to their best start since the 2010 season and they'll look to keep that momentum going as they open Conference USA play on Sunday afternoon on the road in Houston, Texas against West division-foe Rice.

The Lady Techsters will face consecutive grueling challenges to open conference play, going up against Rice this Sunday, who finished third in the conference a season ago, followed by 2015 Conference USA Champion and nationally-ranked Western Kentucky next Friday at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Louisiana Tech has not played since an impressive 2-1 weekend at the Tulsa Invitational a week ago, which saw the Techsters claim 3-1 victories over both Northwestern State and Oral Roberts.

Alejandra Aviles, who is one of three Lady Techster seniors, enters her final season of Conference USA play, needing just 44 digs to break the Louisiana Tech career record of 1,477, set by Jamie Shanks in 1992. Over the past two weeks, Marta Monne is averaging well over three kills a set, to go along with nearly a a.250 attacking percentage.

The Owls enter the match with a 7-7 record, but five of those losses have come to nationally-ranked or power-five opponents. Another loss came earlier in the season in five sets to Sam Houston State. Last weekend, Rice posted a 3-0 record knocking off both Yale and Houston in straight-sets.

Rice opened up Conference USA play last night when they hosted UTEP, winning the match in five sets.

Rice is led by Chelsey Harris and Leah Mikesky who are both averaging over three kills a set. The Owls defensive effort is steered by Portia Okafor who is averaging over a block per set.

A live stream of the game will be available on CUSA.TV ($) and fans can follow @LATechVB on Twitter to keep up with updates throughout the contest.