NATCHITOCHES – After snapping the nation's second longest active home winning streak at Central Arkansas, Northwestern State will return home Saturday seeking to win its fourth straight as they take on Texas State at 2 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.

 

“There have been a lot of really good teams who have travelled to Central Arkansas and not be able to come out with a win,” said co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. “UCA has a great program, and this is just the breakthrough moment that we had been looking for.”

 

Stacey DiFrancesco comes into the match as the Southland Conference's leading attacker and ranks first in kills with 238 (3.66 k/s). She was a huge contributor for NSU (6-12, 3-3) in ending UCA's home streak at 31, tallying her ninth double-double of the season with 21 kills and 13 digs in the 3-1 victory.

 

Kelly Jimenez also made a big impact in that match, registering her seventh double-double of the season with a career-high 15 kills and 12 digs.

“Kelly has really stepped up her game and her training in the last few weeks and it's shown a lot,” Hernesman said.“She has come a long way and her hard work is paying off.”

The win over the Sugar Bears marked the fourth straight match where both Jimenez and DiFrancesco recorded a double-double, and that has guided the Lady Demons to three straight victories, all on the road; 3-1 at Southeastern Louisiana, Nicholls State and UCA.

 

“To win at this level, a team needs to have really good hitters on the outside – and Stacey and Kelly have been that for us,” Hernesman said.“They've adapted to the speed and physicality of the game here at the collegiate level and they keep improving week to week.”

 

Emily Sweet has had the helping hand by dishing out a 131 assists (10.91 a/s) during the three-game win streak. She posted a double-double with 46 assists and 12 digs against the Lions, and then set her career-high at 47 assists against the Colonels. Sweet also had 38 assists and seven digs against the Sugar Bears.

 

Texas State (13-6, 4-1) comes into the match on a four-game win streak and has won 12 of its last 14 sets. It is led by a trio of big attackers – Amari Deardorff, Amber Calhoun and Melissa Toth – who have pounded 166, 159 and 158 kills, respectively.

 

The Lady Demons and the Bobcats squared off in a non-conference affair earlier this season, with Texas State coming out ahead on its home court, 3-0, on Sept. 9. The match was part of the CenturyLink Premier tournament, where NSU later defeated Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-1.

“Texas State is another great program on our schedule and we are looking forward to playing them again,” Hernesman said.“We saw some things in the last match that we felt we could capitalize on and are also playing a much different game right now than we were at that time. It will be a good chance for us to see how much we've improved since four weeks ago.”

Saturday's matchup is Raising Canes Challenge day and a Purple Out. NSU will also be handing out a buy one get one free coupon to Raising Canes after every home victory.