LAKE CHARLES – The Northwestern State volleyball team has put itself in a rare position among Southland Conference teams who have yet to clinch a berth in next week's conference tournament.

As the Lady Demons enter Saturday's 11 a.m. regular-season finale at McNeese, they have one of the clearest paths of the five teams who find themselves battling for the final four spots in the Southland Conference Tournament, which takes place Nov. 16-18 at Prather Coliseum.

A three-match win streak has put Northwestern State (12-13, 8-7) in control of its postseason fate as they prepare to face the Cowgirls (9-21, 7-8) for the second time this season. A victory locks Northwestern State into the No. 5 seed in the tournament. A McNeese victory leaves a four-way tie at 8-8, meaning multiple tiebreakers will be needed to determine the bottom half of the tournament bracket.

Those teams are two of four teams whose conference records are either 8-7 or 7-8. Houston Baptist is the lone conference team to have finished its regular season, completing its conference slate at 8-8.

Aside from the NSU-McNeese matchup, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Incarnate Word square off in a battle of teams who enter Saturday tied at 7-8 in conference play. First serve between the Islanders and Cardinals in San Antonio is set for noon. 

Following Thursday's win at Lamar, Northwestern State has posted back-to-back sweeps in conference play for the second time this season. NSU began its first set of consecutive sweeps by taking down McNeese in three sets on Oct. 11 in Natchitoches.

"It's coach speak, I know, but I'm not thinking about a three-set win," fourth-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We have had some great back-and-forth matches with McNeese, and the last time we saw them in Prather was more of an anomaly. We are going to need to be at our best on Saturday."

Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Brister has been at her best down the stretch for the Lady Demons. In the second half of Southland Conference play, Brister has averaged 4.4 kills per set and has moved into the team lead in kills (283).

Brister stands fifth in the league in kills per set both in all matches (3.14) and in conference matches only (3.42). 

Her ability to produce will be tested again as Northwestern State plays its third match in five days.

They will do so against a McNeese team that runs at a different pace offensively than most teams. With a truncated week, the Lady Demons have less time to scout the Cowgirls. However, there is plenty of familiarity between the teams as they meet for the second time in a month and fourth time in the past two seasons.

"It's like playing a triple-option offense," Kiracofe said. "It's easy to explain. You understand the concepts, but executing that and defending in the moment are two different things. If they get on a roll and even if you know what's coming, it's still difficult to defend."

When the Lady Demons last traveled to McNeese, they fell behind 2-0 before rallying to win the match in five sets and launch a 10-win conference campaign.

Decidedly more will be riding on this matchup, but NSU has that 2017 match to draw from in its memory bank.

"It was a huge win," Kiracofe said. "It really did set the tone for us to go on and know we were going to be able to come out ahead in tough situations like that."