HOUSTON – Northwestern State looks to build upon two consecutive Southland Conference home wins last week, when the squad hits the road for two more league matches over the next three days.

NSU (6-11, 3-1 SLC) opens the brief two-match road trip on Thursday at Houston Baptist (7-10, 2-1 SLC) from Sharp Gym at 7 o'clock.

 "We are starting to feel like us again," fifth-year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman said. "I think with Keelie (Arneson) going out, it was hard for us to recapture who we were initially but I think Bailey (Martin) has done a really nice job of sliding into that role. I thought Caiti (O'Connell) had a really good weekend after a great week of practice. Being at home helped a lot but I think the biggest thing for me is it feels like we starting to build on something."

Heading into play on Thursday, HBU finds itself in the top five in several conference statistical rankings including fifth in hitting percentage (.187) and kills per set (12.22) and third in blocks per set (2.22).

The Huskies are led by junior Allison Doerpinghaus and senior Bailey Keith who rank ninth and tenth in the conference with a .272 and .247 hitting percentage respectively. A tandem of HBU sophomore's are also making a mark of the team and conference as Kayla Armer ranks third with 10.17 assists per set and Jessica Wooten is in fifth at 3.60 kills per set.

"HBU looks like a lot like they did last year," Hernesman said. "They lost two very good middles but the two players they replaced them with are doing a real nice job. They're another year experienced on the outside and at the setting position. They have a strong libero. They are a very balanced team. We need to make sure we are good at executing our scouting report to put us in a position to be competitive in that match."

NSU enters the weekend claiming several top national rankings including the country's top spot with 18.67 digs per set. The Lady Demons also rank third in team attacks per set (39.7), fourth in team digs (1,288), ninth in team total attacks (2,739), 14^th in opponent hitting percentage (.144) and 17^th in team total blocks (169).

Individually, junior middle blocker Glynna Johnson is tenth in the country with 90 total blocks. Other team leaders include senior Mackenzie Neely who has tallied 212.5 points including 3.43 points per set and 177 kills. Senior Emily Johnson has tallied 298 assists while sophomore Bailey Martin has raked in 176 digs at 5.03 per set.

Thursday's match will be the fourth all-time between Northwestern State and Houston Baptist. NSU holds a 2-1 advantage including two victories last year by way of a 3-0 sweep in the Southland Conference Tournament and a 3-1 regular season win at Sharp Gym.

Following Thursday's match, NSU heads back to the site of the 2013 SLC Tournament as the squad takes on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 1 o'clock.

"We'll really need to serve and pass it well," Hernesman said. "That will be the biggest focus for us this week and see if we can get those teams out of system and reduce their offensive options but also for us we need to stay in system."