The Northwestern State volleyball team plays the third of a four-game Southland Conference homestand tonight hoping to stop a long winning streak by the league-leading UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.
The Vaqueros (8-7, 4-0 SLC) come to Prather Coliseum winners of five straight games in a streak that stretches to 19 straight wins in Southland regular season play. UTRGV’s last conference loss was to Stephen F. Austin in five sets back on Sept. 27, 2025.
The Demons (10-9, 2-2 SLC) are coming off a straight-set win over the LSU New Orleans Privateers (2-15, 0-4) in Southland play Saturday afternoon. NSU was led by sophomore Elsie Sanchez with 16 kills.
Senior setter Jade Longlad secured a career milestone passing 1,000 assists. The Calgary, Alberta, Canada native finished the match with 36 assists giving her 1,033 for her Demons’ career. Longlad has 608 assists and 9.50 assists per set which leads the league in both categories.
Sophomore Emmarie McFarland ranks fourth in the nation in digs with 329, which leads the Southland despite having her 18-game double-digit dig streak broken Saturday.
They will need to be at their best tonight.
“They’re (UTRGV) solid in everything they do,” said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. “We will try to exploit some weaknesses to make them uncomfortable. But they also aren’t unbeatable. They do have some places where we think we can take advantage of it. But they’re going to be a lot like Southeastern was last week. They will have an incredibly dynamic left-hander so it’s certainly going to be a tough challenge.”
Fans can watch on ESPN+ as Patrick Netherton and Caley Carter will have the call. Live stats will be available at NSUDemons.com while live updates can be found on twitter/X on the NSU volleyball page @NSUDemonsVB.