The Northwestern State volleyball team tries to rise above .500 in Southland Conference play tonight at home when the Lamar Cardinals visit for a 6:30 match in Prather Coliseum.
Northwestern (12-11 overall, 4-4 SLC) enters the contest against Lamar (6-15, 3-5 SLC) with a 4-2 record at home this season at the halfway point of the Southland schedule. The Demons have Southland wins over LSU New Orleans (2-19, 0-8 SLC) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6-13, 4-4 SLC) in the friendly confines of Prather Coliseum.
“I think we’ve gotten better each match through the first half of league play,” said second-year coach Beb Kaszeta. “I love where this group is at right now. We’re still learning how to get to the point we want to get to but it’s getting there. This league shows that anybody can beat anyone on any given day. We’ve proven that and so have others.”
The Demons split on the road last week. They won at Nicholls (9-12, 2-6 SLC) where NSU hit .311 to roll to a dominant 3-0 win. But the Demons lost at McNeese (8-11, 4-4 SLC) 3-0 this past Saturday as NSU hit just .080 for the match with only 23 kills.
“We were on against Nicholls,” said Kaszeta. “We kept them off balance and dominated the match. But then on the opposite end of the spectrum was McNeese. They played incredibly. They had a game plan against us that fit us to the T. They found a way to exploit the three or four weaknesses we have, and they exploited every single one of them. And when we adjusted, they made another adjustment to keep us off balance. But we’ll learn from that one and simply tip our hat to a well-executed game by McNeese.”
NSU is led offensively by Elsie Sanchez with 3.37 kills per set which is fifth in the conference. Senior Jade Longlad continues to run the offense well for the Demons as she is averaging 9.39 assists per set, second in the league behind UT-Rio Grande Valley’s Lana Rnjak’s 9.58 aps.
Defensively, NSU’s Emmarie McFarland continues her consistent play with 10 or more digs in 21 of 23 matches. The sophomore is averaging 4.62 digs per set, fourth in the SLC.
The Cardinals also split last week, winning over A&M-Corpus Christi, 3-1, on the road. Lamar lost Saturday in straight sets to UTRGV (12-7, 8-0 SLC).
Lamar is led by Maja Malinowska on the offensive side. The junior from Poland is averaging 3.50 kills per set which is second in the league behind UTRGV’s Ema Petkovic (3.68).
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“Lamar has two hitters that are extraordinary,” said Kaszeta. Malinowska is fabulous. She’s won a couple of awards; she’s an All-Southland player. She just does all the things it takes to win and is someone that can win a game by herself. And then they have another one, Nessa Martinez, who is super dynamic. The entire team is starting to put it together and with Martinez and Malinowska leading the way, they could be a problem for the whole league.”
Fans can watch the match 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.
NSU goes on the road Saturday to play at Stephen F. Austin.