The opportunity was right in front of the UTEP volleyball team.
The Miners are so very close to the summit of Conference USA, a place they've been headed to since Ben Wallis took over the program four seasons ago, and Saturday against No. 22 Rice at Memorial Gym, they took their swing.
They came up two points short in a 23-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-20, 16-14 Rice victory that lasted two hours and 45 minutes and gave UTEP a good look at the path forward.
What they said
"I told my team all week this would be a measuring stick to see where we were," coach Ben Wallis said.