TAMPA- The University of South Florida volleyball team will head on their first BIG EAST road trip of the 2010 season this weekend as they take on Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

The Bulls will head to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers on Saturday at 2 p.m. followed by a trip down to Morgantown to square off against the Mountaineers.

The Bulls enter the weekend at 7-8 and 3-1 in league play after splitting a pair of matches against Notre Dame and DePaul last weekend. The Bulls fell to the Irish in straight sets on Friday night (25-19, 25-17, 25-20) before taking down the Blue Demons on Sunday in four (11-25, 27-25, 25-16, 25-19).

The weekend matches will be important in the BIG EAST conference race, as both the Bulls and Panthers enter at 3-1 in league play, while the Mountaineers sit just a game back at 2-2.

The Panthers swept a pair of New Jersey teams in Seton Hall and Rutgers last weekend to open BIG EAST play at 3-1 and an overall record of 8-11, but Pittsburgh has now won seven of their last matches, entering the game against USF on Saturday.

Pittsburgh has squared off against three ranked opponents this season losing to No. 21 Dayton, No. 14 Tennessee and No. 9 Washington in 2010.

The Panthers are led by Amy Town (246 kills, 3.67 k/s), Alyssa King (483 assists, 7.92 a/s) and Margy Acton (242 digs, 3.92 d/s) in 2010.

West Virginia enters the weekend at 12-7 overall and 2-2 in league play after splitting the two matches last weekend against the Pirates and Scarlet Knights. The Mountaineers lead the country with 16.2 digs per set entering the weekend.

Michelle Kopecky (173 kills, 2.84 k/s) leads the Mountaineers on the year along with Kari Post (574 assists, 10.25 a/s), while Bonnie West  (309 digs, 5.07 d/s) leads the Mountaineers in digs.

Freshman Andrea Rodriguez Gomez and senior Allie Boaz each led the Bulls in kills in the pair of matches last weekend with 20 kills apiece throughout the weekend, while sophomore J'beria Davis came on strong in the win over DePaul with 14 kills in the match.

Janice Rivera led the way yet again for the Bulls, collecting 41 digs in the two home matches, averaging 5.86 per set in the loss to Notre Dame and the win over DePaul. Senior Mariana Thon averaged over 10 assists per set at, 10.71 per frame, collecting 75 for the weekend.

GoUSFBulls.com will be chatting live from both matches over the weekend, with full recaps and video after each match as well.