Emily Teegarden said she didn’t think she’d have the opportunity to start for the Lady Toppers her freshman year.

But then highly-touted senior middle hitter Jenna Gideon went down with a shoulder injury.

In steps Teegarden.

On Saturday night against New Orleans, she played three of the five games and collected a career-high seven kills and a .636 hitting percentage.

The next day against Louisiana-Monroe, Teegarden was part of the starting lineup.

“It was really fun, and really exciting,” Teegarden said.

She found out she was going to start just a little while before the match began.

“I was hitting outside (during warmups) and (coach Travis Hudson) came up to me and he was like ‘I must be the worst coach in the world because I’ve had you practicing outside this whole time and now you’re going to play middle.’”

Teegarden’s response: “Oh.”

She said Hudson told her to take a few swings in the middle. She finished the match with six kills on 10 attempts.

Hudson said Gideon’s status is still uncertain. She was being evaluated on Tuesday afternoon, but she was no better than she was Saturday.Teegarden is showing plenty of patience looking to the future, knowing she has three more years, while understanding the importance of Gideon to the team’s success.

“It would be awesome to play, but our team needs Jenna,” Teegarden said. “She’s a huge leader out there. I’m really pulling for her.”

Gideon is third on the team with 381 kills and 4.01 kills per game. She had 18 kills in the Lady Toppers’ loss at New Orleans on Saturday night.

Teegarden enters the scene as the Lady Toppers start a four-match homestand, starting with Florida International on Friday night.

The Lady Toppers beat FIU 3-1 on Oct. 12. The loss was the Golden Panthers’ third in a row. FIU comes to Diddle Arena on a two-match winning streak.

“I definitely think it will be a different team,” junior setter Julia Noe said Monday.

Four out of the next five matches are at Diddle Arena and all are against Sun Belt East opponents. Hudson isn’t looking forward to any one more than the other.

“Our next (match) is always going to be the most important,” Hudson said. “We just need to continue for the next three weeks on getting better for the next (match) and if we do that, then I like our chances at the (Sun Belt) tournament.”

The Lady Toppers’ starters for each match traditionally throw out a red towel during introductions.

Teegarden may be a part of that tradition this weekend.

“That would be pretty cool,” Teegarden said.

Reach Andrew Robinson at sports@chherald.com.