NATCHITOCHES – The delayed and shortened volleyball season comes to a close this week for Northwestern State with two home matches beginning Thursday night with New Orleans.
 
The Lady Demons (2-10, 0-10), looking to bookend a challenging year with a pair of wins, take on the Privateers at 6:30 p.m. inside Prather Coliseum.
 
Live subscription video of the match will be available at www.nsudemons.com or via the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download in either the Apple or Google stores. There is no admission cost for fans wishing to attend in person.
 
With COVID-19 pushing the 2020 season to the spring and injuries near the midway point, an already small NSU roster got even smaller, adding another hurdle for the young group to overcome. 
 
In both of the matches this past week the Lady Demons started and finished with the seven players that took the floor for the first set. Six straight sets for the seven players over the course of three days, something that head coach Sean Kiracofe believes will see the benefits from in a few short months in the 2021 season.
 
"It is going to be something that pays off in the fall," the sixth-year coach said. "It may not feel like it right now but just those gameday reps are, you can't put a value on them, they're huge. 
 
"After those first two matches against (Louisiana) Tech and Grambling everyone was feeling good about themselves. No matter how many times you say that next one is going to be different, until you experience it you don't really know what it's going to be like. They've learned harsh lessons throughout the conference season and something you don't easily forget going into next year."
 
Growth and progression have been keys for the Lady Demons throughout the season. Recently that progression has been displayed by Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa who had a season-best eight kills on 12 error-less swings and setter Ragan Ward who topped 20 assists for the third time and added three kills against Stephen F. Austin. Through the season it has been the growth of Breanna Burrell on the outside and Audrey Quesnel in the middle, both freshmen, that will help lead the team in the future.
 
The Lady Demons look to finish the season just as it started two month ago, in Prather Coliseum with two wins. A 3-1 win against Louisiana Tech and 3-0 sweep of Grambling got the season were the best two offensive performances of the year, including the season-best .222 hitting percentage against the Tigers.
 
The consistency on offense that the team has been ironing out through the year has been more evident in the past few matches and will need to continue in the final week.
 
New Orleans (2-10, 2-8) picked up wins in its first two conference matches of the season against Lamar and Nicholls, but have lost eight straight since, winning only two sets along the way. Thursday's match with NSU will be the season finale for the Privateers after a Wednesday bout with Southeastern La. 
 
"They're a lot like us in that they're not playing with the roster they thought they were going to have coming into the fall or even this spring," Kiracofe said. "They've been up and down and trying to figure out exactly how to attack each match because of that."
 
Freshman Kai Williams leads the team with 90 kills, but senior middle blocker Shelby Pullins is right behind with 84 and a team-leading .333 attack percentage.
 
"It's about us more than anything," Kiracofe said about the final week of the season. "With a young group it's a little difficult to make in-match adjustments. You can't use examples of things we've done or changes we made because no one has been through it to have anything to draw from. It's about player development, in-match moments, things that we can carry over into a very short offseason."
 
Following Thursday's match NSU closes the season Saturday at 1 p.m. against Nicholls.