The Northwestern State Demons’ volleyball team is home tonight looking to snap a three-match losing streak and sweep the season series as the Houston Christian University Huskies visit on “Bad Tunes Night” at Prather Coliseum at 6:30 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to sign up for the Bad Tunes promotion so they can pick a song to play before HCU’s serves. Check the following link for more information: www.NSUDemons.com/BadTunes.
Saturday, the Demons play at home again in a 1 o’clock match against Incarnate Word, with fans invited to participate in a Halloween costume contest and trick or treating fun throughout the contest.
The Demons (12-13, 4-6 SLC) come into the week tied for seventh place in the Southland Conference standings with McNeese (8-13, 4-6 SLC) with just six matches remaining in the regular season. NSU is trying to qualify for the conference tournament for the first time since 2023.
East Texas A&M (9-14, 3-7 SLC) and HCU (5-17, 3-7 SLC) are tied for eighth. The top eight teams qualify for the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament which is Friday, Nov. 20-Sunday, Nov. 22 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
NSU and HCU will face off for the second time this year. The Demons defeated the Huskies 3-1 in Houston in the conference opener on Sept. 24. Elsie Sanchez and Olivia Nzioki led the way with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior setter Jade Longlad had 36 assists while sophomore utility Emmarie McFarland had 27 digs to help NSU to a hard-fought win.
“This is a different team than the first time we played them,” said Demons head coach Ben Kaszeta. “They had five kids a month ago that couldn’t travel with them for one reason or another and now they have three of them back. So, these last couple of weeks they have slowly gotten better. I expect a better team to come in here.”
As for the Demons, Sanchez leads the team for the season with 3.37 kills per set offensively which is fifth in the SLC. Longlad is third in assists per set at 9.39 while McFarland’s 4.75 digs per set is also third.
The Huskies have won back-to-back matches over McNeese and Nicholls (9-14, 2-8 SLC) at home coming into Thursday.
“They’ve done a good job the last two games of breaking from patterns that were hurting them early in the season,” said Kaszeta. “But we will look back to how we scored against them the first time and they should still be there Thursday.”
The Huskies are just 1-9 on the road this year beating Texas Southern 3-1 on Sept. 3.
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.