COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Northwestern State volleyball plays their third tournament in as many weeks starting on Thursday with Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
 
NSU embarks on a tough stretch with four matches in four days starting with the 3-0 sweep of Grambling on Tuesday at Prather Coliseum. The team traveled to College Station, Texas on Wednesday and begins play in the Texas A&M Invitational on Thursday, with two more matches on Friday.
 
The Lady Demons are 6-2 on the year, matching their best start to a season since 1999. That hot start will be put to the test across the next two days however, as the Lady Demons paly in what coach Sean Kiracofe called, "our toughest tournament."
 
Of the four team field, Texas State is the only side with a losing record at 3-4, but have played stiff competition to date. Their most recent win was a 3-0 sweep of Georgia in the Long Beach State Classic last weekend.
 
The host, Texas A&M, has a 4-1 record entering its classic. Their only loss was at the hands of #25 Louisville in a five-set thriller in Kentucky. They lost just one set in three matches in their most recent tournament at Pepperdine this past weekend.
 
"Texas A&M is going to be big," Kiracofe said. "We played them great last year but that's going to make it even tougher for us going to play them at their place. It's just finding little ways that we can be successful and being able to be consistent with those."
 
Texas-Rio Grande Valley is 4-3 on the season with wins over two other Southland schools – Houston Baptist and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Vaqueros have lost their last two matches in straight sets to UT-San Antonio and Houston.
 
The quality of the opponent does not change the approach Kiracofe wants from his team or what he wants to see over the next two days.
 
"We got compliments last weekend from South Alabama and Tennessee State about how consistent we were," Kiracofe said. "That's great to hear but I'm sitting on the bench thinking we could be better. To go out against a good team (UTRGV) we know has talent is still a team we know we can compete with because Corpus took them to five, it's going to take that consistency."
 
The Lady Demons saw some flashes of the consistency they've been looking for in the win against Grambling. Both Kourtney Seaton and Reagan Lee had eight kills in the match, a season-high for Lee, adding more options for NSU offensively.
 
Live stat links for all matches will be available at www.nsudemons.com. Live video will of NSU's match with Texas A&M will be streamed through ESPN+, Friday morning at 10 a.m. Video of Thursday's match with UTRGV and Friday afternoon's match with Texas State will not be available.
 
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