It isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish.

The Georgia volleyball team (13-9, 4-7 SEC) can certainly relate to that adage after overcoming its recent four-game conference losing streak and a last place standing in the SEC eastern division.

Following an unimpressive 1-6 start in SEC play this season, the Bulldogs have won three out of their last four conference matches to climb out of the eastern division cellar.

Amid the surprise contributions from junior middle hitter Valentina Gonzalez, sophomore middle hitter Ann Dylla and redshirt freshman outside hitter Briana Bahr there has been one constant in 2009.

The performance of junior outside hitter Erika Clark has been solid all season long and it should come as no surprise to anyone following her sophomore campaign when she finished second on the team in kills (288) and digs (367).

“Last year we had a really good season until the end,” Clark said. “Being able to beat out some of those big teams with our win against Florida and beating LSU, experiencing that and knowing that we’re just as capable of doing that adds to our experience.”

During the team’s last four matches, Clark has led the Bulldogs in kills with 56 and is behind only sophomore libero Carla Tietz with 56 digs.

For the season, Clark leads Georgia with 266 kills and is second on the team with 251 digs.

As far as the team’s recent success, Clark knows what has possibly contributed to Georgia’s quick turnaround.

“We just concentrated on continuing to work hard and putting more fun into what we were doing. When we have fun on the court, a lot of times we win while we’re doing that and that’s what we’ve been concentrating on in the second half,” Clark said. “It was really nice to come out and have those three straight wins and a tough loss to LSU but we played really hard against them too, so hopefully we can carry that throughout the SEC and I feel like we can compete with anyone.”