CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Led by three Southland All-Conference members, the second-seeded Northwestern State volleyball team will open conference tournament play for just the 10^th time in program history on Friday at 11:00 against seventh-seeded McNeese State at the Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
 
The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the eight-team, single-elimination tournament will be streamed live and for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network. The championship match, slated to begin on Sunday at two o'clock, CT, will be broadcasted on ESPN3.
 
J.C. Hernandez, J.J. Jackson and Dixie Lee will describe the action for the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, while Lincoln Rose will handle play-by-play and Laura Alford will join him as the color analyst for the championship game.
 
The Lady Demons (19-11 overall, 15-3 SLC) have advanced to the second round of the tournament just once, with the win coming in 2007 in a 3-1 victory over Texas-Arlington. NSU was shutout in the next round by league rival Stephen F. Austin, who later fell to Texas State in the championship match.
 
Earlier this season, the Lady Demons defeated the Cowgirls (14-17, 9-9) 3-1 in the only meeting between the two teams in 2013. McNeese enters the tournament on a three-game win-streak, defeating Lamar, Houston Baptist and Nicholls in the final weeks of the regular season. The seventh seed for McNeese is the first since their similar seed appearance in the 2010 tournament, falling to Texas-San Antonio in five in the first round.
 
Southland Freshman of the Year Ashley Elrod will lead the NSU offense as she knocks down 2.88 kills per set and .25 service aces per set. The Arlington, Texas, native has recorded a team-high 12 double-doubles this season. Redshirt sophomore Caiti O'Connell follows just behind with 2.64 kills per set, as well as first team All-Conference repeat selection Stacey DiFrancesco with 2.17 kills per set and 2.66 digs per set.
 
League Libero of the Year, Keelie Arneson, steers the defense, digging up a team and Southland-high 5.56 digs per set, and a No. 9 national ranking. Arneson registered a career-high 42 digs on Saturday's regular season finale at SFA, and surpassed her own single-season digs record, notching 634 this season. The 5'7 junior also holds the career digs record with 1,749 digs so far.
 
From the middle, single-season block assists (90) leader Glynna Johnson and Vanessa Coleman will lead. The duo leads the team with 167 combined blocks on the season. Setters Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger dish out 5.60 and 4.84 assists per set, respectively, as Mackenzie Neely completes the lineup on the right side, knocking down 22 kills in the last week of regular season play.
 
Amber Fryer and Rachel Cagnina lead the Cowgirl offense with hitting percentages of .253 and .250, respectively. Fryer also holds rank in the blocks list, putting up .88 blocks per set and 11th in the Southland. Second team All-Conference selection Malina Sanchez ranks second in the southland with 3.68 kills per set, while setter Vanessa Bently dishes out 9.17 assists per set to hold seventh in the league.
 
The winner of Friday's match will move on to the semifinals against the winner of the No. 3 Oral Roberts and No. 6 Houston Baptist game at 11:00 Saturday morning.