Caroline Tredwell sat at a table for a post-match press conference, her coach, Carol Price-Torok, seated to her right. It was last Sunday, and moments earlier North Texas had swept past UTSA 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 in an American Athletic Conference volleyball match at the Convocation Center.

Tredwell, UTSA’s sophomore middle blocker, had played gallantly. She had match highs for kills (12) and hitting percentage (.632) — committing only one hitting error in 19 attempts — but the accomplishment didn’t matter to her. The Roadrunners suffered their fourth straight loss, and their hopes of advancing to the AAC postseason tournament hung in the balance.

“It doesn’t mean much if we’re not winning,” Tredwell said. “We all want to win really badly.”

Despite a late-season skid, UTSA (11-12 overall, 4-8 in conference) has a silver lining. It controls its destiny.

With a win on Friday at home vs. Temple (15-11, 5-7), the Roadrunners can grab the inside track to what likely will be the final spot into the AAC tournament on Nov. 21-23 in Tampa, Florida. The contest starts at 6 p.m.

UTSA is currently ninth in the AAC, one game behind Temple. A win would move the teams into a tie and give the Roadrunners the head-to-head tiebreaker. The top eight teams in the conference advance. Rice, South Florida, North Texas, Tulsa, Florida Atlantic and Wichita State have secured berths.

“I don’t know if our kids have any recollection of that, or if they’re thinking about that. We’re continuing to tell them to ‘believe in themselves, believe in themselves, believe in themselves, and we’re still very much in the hunt,” Torok said. “We’ve got to do for ourselves.”

The first step starts vs. Temple, which is 3-0 all-time vs. UTSA.

“We’ve got to be able to come in and put our money where our mouth is,” Torok said. “We’re not doing that consistently right now, and that’s why you’re seeing the results that we have.”

The Roadrunners hope to reverse the trend. If they can, a season-long goal of making it to the postseason tournament could become a reality.

“I think we’ve just got to believe in ourselves, make quicker adjustments, and just want more for ourselves,” Tredwell said. “We obviously want to get out there and just get after it every game. (making the AAC tournament) is in the back of my head, it’s in the back of my teammates’ heads. We just got to keep working.”

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