By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

The Fort Hays State University volleyball team has lost five straight matches, has had a bus breakdown in Omaha, Neb., played without its top offensive weapon, and has been on the road for two straight weeks.

Little has gone right for the Tigers since Sept. 17.

However, Fort Hays could receive good news today when senior middle hitter Leanna Roberts, a two-time Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association honorable mention selection, is expected to return to the lineup.

Roberts suffered an ankle injury late in the third set of a 3-0 victory against Missouri Western State University on Sept. 17 in the team's conference and home opener. Roberts has traveled with the team but hasn't played in the five match losing streak. She is expected to return to action this weekend in the Washburn Invitational in Topeka.

"I am hopeful that we will have her back for (today)," Tiger coach Steve Smith said earlier this week.

The Tigers (6-8 overall, 1-4 MIAA) will play four out of conference, in region matches at the Washburn Invitational in their last tournament of the regular season. Fort Hays was scheduled to face Incarnate Word (Texas) today at 11:30 a.m.. followed by a match against Texas-Permian Basin at 4 p.m. On Saturday, they are scheduled to face Central Oklahoma and East Central (Okla.)

The Tigers defeated Permian Basin and East Central earlier this fall at the season-opening West Texas A&M Tournament.

Roberts would have liked to have played Tuesday night in a 3-0 loss at University of Nebraska-Kearney, ranked No. 10 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll, but Smith and the training staff wanted to wait until the weekend.

"I don't want to jeopardize the rest of the year for her by trying to get her back early," Smith said.

On Monday, Roberts was able to hit for the first time but still walked gingerly at the end of practice.

"Coming off an injury like that, you don't know whether you are going to be back to where you were the rest of the season," Smith said.

Roberts' absence has hurt Fort Hays, especially offensively. Roberts had led the team in hitting percentage each of the past two seasons and was among the conference leaders this year when she suffered the injury. Roberts is attacking at .292, while the next closest hitter, senior Alissa Tonniges, is at .167.

"You have to see the block, that is the tricky thing," Roberts said of her offense. "You have to have good awareness."

Roberts also ranks second in kills per game (2.69) behind junior Lilian Rezende. Her injury was called a "worst case scenario" by Smith last week. Without Roberts, the Tigers have dropped five straight matches, four of them to conference opponents, three to ranked teams.

They have lost 15 of 16 sets and have not won a set since Sept. 19. They've lost four road matches to conference foes, including two last weekend against University of Nebraska-Omaha and University of Central Missouri. Versus UNO, the Tigers also had their bus break down.

"We had to literally hitch rides from the place over to the playing site," Smith said.

On the court, the Tigers were 6-3 and attacking at .163 with Roberts. Since her injury, Fort Hays is 0-5 and has attacked at .081.

"We struggled as a whole team," Smith said. "Now all we need to do as a team is we need to get Leanna back completely healthy and another one or two players step up and play at a consistent level where we can be in some of these matches."