NATCHITOCHES – With a SLC Tournament berth still at stake, the Northwestern State volleyball team will host a critical match against Nicholls State in the regular-season finale on Saturday at 2 at Prather Coliseum.

 

NSU (9-19, 5-10) is coming off a 3-1 victory over Southeastern Louisiana Thursday night. Stacey DiFrancesco and Emily Sweet each posted double-doubles, while middle-blockers Vanessa Coleman and Mackenzie Neely both pounded 11 kills.

 

DiFrancesco comes into the match ranking first in the SLC in double-doubles (13) in conference play, and third in kills (4.03 k/s). Sweet places sixth in the SLC in assists (10.43 a/s), Keelie Arneson is seventh in digs (4.21 d/s) and Nicole Hajka is eighth in service aces (0.31 sa/s).

 

Nicholls State (18-13, 5-10) is coming off a 3-0 defeat to Central Arkansas Thursday night. It is led by Jennifer Brandt who leads the team in kills, averaging 2.68 per set. Jessica Addicks ranks eighth in the SLC in hitting percentage (.280), and libero Rachel Yezak leads the team defensively, averaging 3.12 digs per set.

 

In the first meeting between the Lady Demons and the Colonels, NSU pulled out a 3-1 win on the road on Oct. 1. DiFrancesco and Kelly Jimenez each scored a double-double in the win, while Coleman smashed a career-high 15 kills (.426).

 

NSU Breakdown of SLC Tiebreaks

For NSU to make the SLC Tournament, it would have to defeat Nicholls State on Saturday, and have Texas A&M-Corpus Christi lose to Texas State.

The top eight teams make the tournament, and the top seven spots have already been clinched. For the eighth spot, there is currently a four way tie between NSU, Nicholls State, McNeese State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, all 5-10.

Since the Lady Demons face the Colonels on Saturday, NSU will leap ahead of them with a win (or be eliminated with a loss).

The Lady Demons do not hold a tiebreak over the Islanders due to a five-set defeat earlier this season. So NSU would need TAMUCC to get knocked off by first-place Texas State on Saturday to pass them.

The match between McNeese State and Sam Houston State is irrelevant to NSU because the Lady Demons hold the tiebreak over the Cowgirls. The first tie-break is head-to-head, which was split 1-1. Next comes the amount of sets each team won against each other, and since both matches were 3-1, it would still be even. The third tiebreak is record within the division. The Lady Demons are currently 5-4 in the SLC East, while the Cowgirls finished at 5-5. So a NSU win over Nicholls on Saturday would improve the record to 6-4, one-game better than McNeese State.