THIBODAUX – After getting a needed win on Thursday, and doing so in straight sets, Northwestern State looks to complete its second season sweep of the week when it travels to Nicholls on Saturday afternoon.
 
First serve for the match is set for 1 p.m. from Nicholl's Stopher Gym. There will be not live stream for the match but live stats will be available at www.nsudemons.com.
 
As they did on Thursday afternoon, the Demons (10-12, 6-5) will face a team in Nicholls that is a continual experiment in personnel, formation and execution, creating more pregame unknowns that will force defensive adjustments during the match.
 
But based on the Colonels' (3-17, 1-9) most recent outing there might be a tad bit more clarity on what to expect Saturday afternoon.
 
Nicholls picked up its first conference win of the season in a 3-1 decision against Texas A&M-Commerce behind its best offensive showing of the conference schedule. The Colonels hit .211 as a team, the second best rate of the season behind only a .408 outing against Mississippi Valley State.
 
"It's hard to scout against a lineup when you don't quite know what it's going to be," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "They've got some players that can be very similar to what New Orleans has as far as crafty attackers that can use the block and move the ball around. 
 
"If they are able to find spots on the floor that are spots we're not used to picking up it can be a difficult day. We have to stay consistent on our end and aggressive enough that we don't allow them the opportunity to feel comfortable seeing hands to tool or splits in the block to be disruptive that way."
 
Gracie Campbell led the Colonel offense with 17 kills and a .310 percentage while middle blocker Jhayla Bolden had a career night with 10 kills on 16 error-free swings for a .625 hitting percentage.
 
They will go up against the potent NSU block that picked up its 12^th double-digit block match of the season on Thursday with 10 in three sets against New Orleans. NSU has reached double figures in blocks in seven of the last nine matches as they maintain their position among the nation's elite blocking units.
 
Reaghan Thompson and Jordan Gamble, the two sensational Demon middles, rank first and fourth in conference matches in total blocks and blocks per set. Just their combined 111 blocks alone would lead the team block rankings, and Thompson's 70 stops in conference play is more than three teams have total.
 
The Demons got some of those blocks during key moments late in sets two and three of the win over New Orleans, but the even more welcome sight was the lack of unforced errors in those times, and the immediate recovery from the couple that did come.
 
After back-to-back attack errors allowed the Privateers to hold off set point and then serve for set point, making the score 25-24 in the marathon second set, the Demons did not commit a single error the rest of the set, save for one service miscue. They also did not rely on UNO mistakes to win the set, picking up seven kills of the nine total points they needed after crossing the 25-point mark.
 
NSU wasn't quite as crisp and clean closing out the third set, with three errors that helped UNO even the score at 22, but stepping up in the big spot was Gamble out of the middle with a kill and a block, alongside Symone Wesley, setting up Teresa Garza to close the match on a 3-0 Demon scoring burst.
 
Their ability to finish points and close rallies led to their best team attack percentage since the two-match stretch when they played UNO and Nicholls a month ago of .228. The 50 kills were also the most in a three-set match for NSU all season.