It’s crunch time.

The Massachusetts volleyball team faces a crucial two-game homestand this weekend as it plays host to conference foes Temple and LaSalle. Crucial, because the Minutewomen (9-8 overall, 3-5 Atlantic 10) are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and stand below .500 in A-10 play.

“Every match for us is critical for us right now,” Head Coach Bonnie Kenny said. “We’ve got to start playing a little better. Every game right now is big for us. We can only get better than how we’ve been playing.”

The Maroon and White dropped a non-conference match to Harvard Tuesday night, 3-1, a loss that came on the heels of consecutive road losses to conference opponents Duquesne and Rhode Island. Worse still was the loss of senior co-captain Lymarie Llovet, who fell victim to a severe ankle sprain against the Dukes on Friday night. Llovet is expected to miss the next several matches.

“We need a couple people to step up in Lymarie’s absence,” Kenny said.

“I think Janeen DeMarte has to be a leader and I think Nitia Small has to step up her performance,” she continued. “Clare Baxter has been doing a good job lately too.”

The major issue with UMass over the last few matches has been the inconsistency of the offense. In the two conference losses, the Minutewomen hit a combined .188. Tuesday night showed some improvement, as the home squad hit .285, but it was still not enough to down the Crimson.

“We still have moments where we hit .350 or better and then turn around and hit .130,” Kenny said. “We need to do a better job on blocking, so we can dig few more balls. Our middle blocker hasn’t been closing and our outside blocker hasn’t been setting up correctly.”

The task that looms at hand for the Maroon and White certainly isn’t an easy one. Friday night brings archrival Temple and its 13-5 overall record (5-3 A-10) to town. The Minutewomen visited Philly on Sept. 22 and were rudely dispatched by the Owls 3-0. Lauren Vander Veen’s 12 kills were not enough to stand up to a multifaceted Temple offense that had four players post double digits in kills.

“With Temple, we have to do something to slow down its offense,” said Kenny, who led her squad to a split with the Owls last year. “They have four people they can go to every time that seem to want the ball every time. We just have to make sure we can defend that.”

Saturday night, LaSalle will attempt to spike the Minutewomen. UMass trounced the Explorers 3-0 in their lone contest this season, with DeMarte and Llovet each tallying 10 kills. The Maroon and White will have to be wary of senior Kristin Russo, who is LaSalle’s emotional leader on both offense and defense. Despite success in the past, Kenny is not taking the Explorers lightly.

“I know that we haven’t played as well lately as we did that weekend in Philly,” she said. “LaSalle is playing better than they did then, so we have to watch out for them.”

Success for the Maroon and White, according to Kenny, is truly simple.

“We just have to perform better.”

Game time for both matches is 7 p.m. at the Curry Hicks Cage.