The hunt for the Sun Belt Tournament got a little bit more difficult for the Troy Trojans volleyball team after a 3-0 (21-25, 22-25, 16-25) loss to Western Kentucky University Saturday afternoon.

The Trojans (13-16, 4-10 Sun Belt) could not keep point streaks going in the first two sets and dropped two close sets and the WKU Hilltoppers (19-9, 8-5) closed it out with a dominant third set.

“We had our opportunities to win that second set,” Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “But we just didn’t take advantage of those opportunities and we let them back in it. If we win that set who knows what happens.”

Meghan Gilroy again led the Trojans with 12 kills and a .400 attack percentage, but no other Trojan had better than a .200 percentage to add to Gilroy’s attacks. Megan Henderson contributed 25 assists. Aubre Smith had seven kills and Brittany McClelland had five kills.

Kirkpatrick and the Trojans host the South Alabama Jaguars next weekend in a key Sun Belt matchup. The match has been moved from Saturday at 3 p.m. to Friday at 7 p.m. because of the Troy football Homecoming game on Saturday.

“Friday’s match is as must-win as any other match this season for us,” Kirkpatrick said. “We need people to step up and make plays, something we didn’t do today.”

The Trojans are currently on the outside looking in for the Sun Belt Tournament. The tourney field includes the Top-8 from the two Sun Belt divisions. With their 4-10 record, Troy is a half a game behind South Alabama and Florida Atlantic for that eighth spot in the tournament field. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette is a half a game behind Troy in the race for No. 8.

The Trojans host South Alabama Nov. 7 and are on the road for their final two conference games. They travel to Middle Tennessee State University Nov. 14 and Western Kentucky University Nov. 15.

Florida Atlantic hosts Louisiana-Monroe today, hosts WKU Nov. 7, hosts Middle Tenn. Nov. 8 and travels to FIU Nov. 15.

The Jaguars of South Alabama travel to Troy Nov. 7, travel to WKU Nov. 14 and travel to Middle Tenn. Nov. 15.

La-Lafayette hosts Denver Nov. 7, hosts North Texas Nov. 9, travels to New Orleans Nov. 13 and hosts La.-Monroe Nov. 16.