THIBODAUX – After claiming a 3-2 victory over McNeese to open Southland Conference play in Lake Charles on Thursday night, Northwestern State has another quick turnaround as the squad heads to Thibodaux to play Nicholls on Saturday at 2 o'clock.

"We've got a veteran group so we're accustomed to the rigors of all this travel," fifth-year head coach Hugh Hernesman said. "We're here at the tail end of a five week swing where we've been on the road. It does add up to some degree but it's not anything we're not used to doing."

Nicholls (4-10, 0-1 SLC) is coming off a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Stephen F. Austin to open conference play on their home court Thursday night.
"They have real strong pin play," Hernesman said. "Their outsides and their right do a real nice job. It's kind of like playing a mirror version of ourselves but in a 5-1 offense."

The Colonels are led offensively by redshirt sophomore and North Texas transfer Kaci Eaton who ranks second in the Southland with 198 kills (4.21 per set) and redshirt sophomore Kali Schwartz who has contributed 103 kills (2.19 per set).  Defensively, senior Kalynn Egea trails only NSU's Keelie Arneson with 5.62 digs per set and 264 total.

"I think Kaci is doing a real nice job of point scoring for them," Hernesman said. "That's going to be the challenge is slow her down. Kali Schwartz is another threat for them that can really get hot. We've got to handle their serve and try to do our best to slow down their pin attack and I think if we can do that and do the things we need to offensively, I feel like we'll have decent chance of taking one from them on their home floor."

Northwestern State (4-10, 1-0 SLC) counters Nicholls' offensive attack with a defense that ranks first in the league in opponent hitting percentage (.138), blocks per set (2.35) and digs per set (18.98). Arneson's league-leading 6.82 digs per set and Glynna Johnson's conference-best 1.28 blocks per set lead the shut down defense.

Saturday's meeting between the two in-state foes will mark the 68^th all-time. The Colonels hold a 36-31 advantage since the series began in 1987 while NSU has won the previous six matches dating back to the beginning of the 2011 season. Nonetheless, Hernesman expects this to be another challenge for the program.

"Any road win you can get in this conference is a valuable one," Hernesman said. "Teams play well at home in this conference and there are a lot of unique places to play that just aren't similar to your own gym. Nicholls has a smaller, tighter spaced gym than we do; we're used to the big look in Prather. Every match at this point is the biggest one."

The match will be the 15^th and final match of a one-month road trip for NSU that spanned across four states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The Lady Demons open their home slate on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Abilene Christian.