CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – With the start of the college basketball season just over a week away, Northwestern State volleyball will try and take a page from that playbook as it enters Saturday's match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Lady Demons (13-10, 6-6) looks to rebound quickly after a frustrating performance in the loss at HCU on Thursday night. A match filled with bad-luck bounces for the Demons combined with a dishearteningly efficient Huskie attack and robust block made for a match to quickly put in the rearview mirror.
 
The road ahead doesn't get any easier with the undefeated-at-home-in-conference Islanders waiting in a 1 p.m. match scheduled for ESPN+. Live stat links will also be available at www.nsudemons.com or on the NSU Athletics mobile app.
 
The matchup with Corpus will have the same sort of starting point as the one with HCU in terms of both teams bringing different looks into the match.
 
In the first meeting a month ago the Lady Demons took the 2-1 match lead after a light's out performance from Breanna Burrell who totaled nine kills on 11 swings without an error in the third set alone. 
 
The Islanders took their efficiency up a notch after that point with just two unforced attack errors the in the final two sets as they cruised to the 25-14 and 15-8 set wins.
 
Since that match the Islanders have seen upticks in production from junior outside Ella Litterell, providing more options offensively to go with Kyndal Payne and Leah Stolfus' steady work.
 
The Demons can say almost the exact same thing.
 
La'Treva Kennedy has been a solid addition to the rotation over the past handful of matches as the Demons continue to refine their look with Reaghan Thompson on playing on the right side as well as spending time in the middle.
 
Burrell, Jordan Gamble and Symone Wesley continue to provide their requisite numbers on offense and defense
 
"The adjustments that we have made and are able to make comes from their comfortability with each other and just an overall depth of talent," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We have several people that can play different positions and people that can step in and produce. That's not something we've always had especially in the most recent years. We have it now and it allows us to create different looks for teams."
 
Setter Piper Boydstun missed the first meeting with the Islanders due to injury so that fact alone means NSU will bring a completely different offense into Saturday's match. 
 
The Demons will look for a bounce-back performance more akin to the four other road conference wins they have under that belt prior to this weekend.