The goal was clear for the Georgia volleyball team last weekend: it needed to win one out of two home games against solid opponents in order to have a chance to get into the NCAA Tournament.

After losing to Kentucky and Tennessee, it now seems as if the Bulldogs (15-13, 6-11 SEC) are on the outside looking in when it comes to playing into the month of December.

“We’ve kind of shifted gears once we knew we were a little bit out of the race of getting into the NCAA Tournament,” head coach Joel McCartney said. “The goal became, ‘let’s be the best of the rest of these teams that aren’t going [to the NCAAs].’”

“We’re going to take another step forward in improving our program by finishing higher in the rankings.”

Even with the opportunity of postseason play fading fast, the Bulldogs still have a lot to play for in their final three games of the 2009 season, and it all starts this weekend as Georgia hits the road to take on two conference opponents.

First up for Georgia will be the Ole Miss Rebels (8-19, 2-15 SEC) in Oxford, Miss., today at 8 p.m.

The Bulldogs defeated the Rebels earlier this season in four sets in Athens. They look to duplicate that performance in a much different atmosphere.

“They’re such a dangerous team to play at home . they only have two conference wins this year but they’ve taken a team like Florida to five [sets] at their place and it’s a very rowdy environment,” McCartney said. “It’s in-your-face kind of fans and so it’s something that we have to prepare for.”

Up next for Georgia will be the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-16, 6-11 SEC) on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Arkansas swept the Bulldogs earlier this season in Athens with set scores of 25-18, 25-20 and 25-20 but the Georgia coaching staff seems to have addressed some of the issues from that match.

“Arkansas is a much improved program and we did not play them well at our place . we just didn’t play well at all but we discussed that with our team and made a change, so we’ll hope to enforce that for Sunday,” McCartney said.

With a victory over the weekend, McCartney will notch his 50th career win as Georgia head coach.