HOUSTON – When it comes to recruiting, the greater Houston area has been fertile ground for the Northwestern State volleyball team.
 
Four members of the Lady Demons roster hail from the Houston metropolitan area and will make a homecoming trip Thursday when Northwestern State faces Southland Conference foe Houston Baptist at 7 p.m.
 
"It's great," second-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We should have a great crowd for both matches (including Saturday at Lamar). It's great to be able to take the girls home."
 
Northwestern State's quartet of greater Houstonians include Kylie Spencer (Tomball), Alexis Warren (Cypress), Victoria Harris (Spring) and Abby Gardea (Deer Park).
 
Warren, a freshman, returns home leading NSU (9-11, 4-1) in kills (207) and total attacks (774), the latter total ranks 16^th nationally.
 
For Warren and Harris, Thursday's match gives them a hometown match in their first year with the program. For Gardea and Spencer, it means a chance to make their first hometown appearance with a greater role than in past seasons.
 
"It's exciting," Gardea said. "Both of my parents have been very good about coming to all of my games, but to be able to play in my hometown where my coaches and family can come watch me play is pretty awesome."
 
Gardea's role has expanded from her freshman season. She has started all 20 matches, playing both outside hitter and right side and establishing overall career highs in kills (72), total attacks (253), block solos (2) and block assists (44).
 
Gardea's improvement has followed a similar theme as that of many of her teammates in the second year of the Kiracofe era and is a big reason NSU sits in third place in the Southland standings, a game ahead of Houston Baptist (11-8, 2-1).
 
The Huskies were tabbed third and fourth in preseason polls by league coaches and sports information directors, respectively.
 
Houston Baptist will challenge NSU with an offense that leads the Southland in hitting percentage across all matches (.207) and in kills per set (12.85). Individually, junior Bailey Banks paces the league in kills per set (3.62) while senior Kayla Armer leads the Southland in assists per set (9.92).
 
The Huskies opened Southland play with road wins at New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana before dropping their conference home opener against Lamar on Oct. 1.
 
"They're going to be tough," Kiracofe said. "They've been up and down, but they have a lot of talent. They were picked high in the preseason and expected to do a lot of things. It's going to be a tough match."
 
The Lady Demons will bring some momentum and confidence with them.
 
NSU opened conference play with three consecutive road wins for the first time in program history. After dropping its home conference opener to Southland co-leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State bounced back to defeat Incarnate Word.
 
"We feel great right now," KIracofe said. "I've said it a few times, but HBU is going to be a tough match. To have some confidence going into that is going to help us."