CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Two of the Southland Conference's best defensive players are set to square off on Saturday afternoon as Northwestern State closes its first conference road trip of the season.
 
NSU's Haley Hoang and Texas A&M-Corupus Christi's Carissa Barnes both rank in the top five in the conference in the defensive categories digs per set and total digs, forcing both teams to game plan with them in mind.
 
The match between the Lady Demons (6-11, 0-2) and the Islanders (6-7, 2-0) is set for a 1 p.m. start from the Dugan Wellness Center and will be aired on ESPN+. Links for live coverage are available at www.nsudemons.com.
 
"She takes up a lot of court in serve receive and a tremendous amount of court defensively," head coach Sean Kiracofe said of Barnes. "That is because of certain things that they do defensively where they commit to what they believe are going to have a high percentage of happening. That leaves a lot of responsibility for their libero but she's good enough to be able to handle that."
 
Barnes is the reigning conference Libero of the Year and currently tops the conference and the nation with a 6.78 dig per set average. She has eclipsed 30 digs in a match three times this season including a 39-dig performance against Tarleton State two weeks ago.
 
The same sentiments Kiracofe expressed towards Barnes can and have been said of the Lady Demons' libero as well who continues to provide a solid back line match over match.
 
Hoang currently leads the conference in total digs and has recorded six different 20-dig matches this season, the most recent coming one week ago against Southeastern. Her 27-dig effort against the Lady Lions was the second most in her career after amassing 28, also against SLU, during the spring season.
 
"Haley is a phenomenal talent," Kiracofe said. "In volleyball it is difficult for one player to 'takeover' or control the match because of how many people need to touch the ball for a play to happen. However, the nature of the libero position allows the good ones to do that because they can control the first contact which can make or break the rest of the rally. 
 
"Haley is one of those types of liberos. She can take half the court in serve receive, with a disciplined block in front of her she can take even more than half the court defensively and regularly makes amazing plays to completely save a rally. The fans always see the attacker get kills but it's the libero in many cases that allowed that swing to even happen, and Haley is doing that for us on a regular basis."
 
Both offenses will have their hands full facing the player in the different color jersey. For the Lady Demons it remains about finding the offensive consistency, making the right decisions with the ball and avoiding late-set missteps.
 
Breanna Burrell continued her exceptional offensive output in Thursday's loss at UIW with her eighth double-digit kill performance in the past 10 matches. In the past three weeks of play Burrell is hitting .291 with 88 kills including three matches with a hitting percentage above .350.
 
"It comes down to a mix of trying to keep the ball away from her (Barnes) and not forcing things that aren't there just to keep it away from her," Kiracofe said. "If we force it, more than likely we are going to ourself in a bad position where somebody else is going to dig the ball or block us. Whatever we can do that doesn't give them quite as good of a first contact to be able to run their transition offense is what we're looking for."