NATCHITOCHES – A two-way tie in the Southland Conference standings between the Northwestern State volleyball team and league-foe Oral Roberts will be decided Tuesday evening in a seven o'clock meeting at Prather Coliseum.
 
The match marks the second duel for the two teams this season as the Lady Demons (13-10, 9-2 SLC) defeated the Golden Eagles (17-4, 9-2 SLC) in a five-set nail-biter on their home floor less than a month ago. The squads sit tied for third place in the Southland standings at the moment.
 
NSU picked up a 3-1 win over Lamar on Thursday and later fell to Sam Houston State on Saturday, also 3-1. ORU, currently on a four-game win-streak, knocked down Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in five and blanked Houston Baptist last week in league action.
 
Freshman Ashley Elrod leads the attack for the Lady Demons, knocking down 2.97 kills per set. Caiti O'Connell and Stacey DiFrancesco follow just behind with 2.76 and 2.20 kills per set, respectively.
 
Middle blocker Vanessa Coleman is making a mark in the Southland hitting percentage columns, recorded a .312 attack percentage to hold fourth in league.
ORU's Jessica Pancratz sits first with a .355 attack percentage.
 
League digs leader Keelie Arneson registers 5.24 digs per set to remain in the top-25 rankings nationally. Bruna Silva digs up 5.03 attacks per set for second in the conference and top-30 nationally for the Golden Eagles.   
 
Sophomore Glynna Johnson steers the middle while putting up .87 blocks per set, while Jovana Poljasevic and Pancratz rank fourth and fifth with 1.18 and 1.12 blocks per set, respectively.
 
Setters Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger deliver 5.56 and 4.74 assists per set as Johnson sits 13^th in the league. ORU's Laura Taylor dishes out 10.88 assists per set.
 
Northwestern State will go on a four-game road-stint before hosting Central Arkansas on Nov. 12 for its final home game of the season at 7:00 at Prather. The Lady Demons head to conference newcomers Abilene Christian on Thursday and Incarnate Word on Saturday.