SAN ANTONIO, Texas – In the final regular season match of the season Northwestern State is looking for a bounce-back performance as it heads into the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
The Demons (13-15, 9-8) are locked into the No. 5 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, with their opponent either New Orleans or Texas A&M-Commerce to be decided on Saturday. However, they also carry three straight losses into the season finale and are looking for an improved outing when they take the floor against UIW.
 
First serve is set for 11 a.m. and will stream live on ESPN+.
 
"UIW has a bunch of different options and they have been better than they were last year," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "They've retained a bunch of that talent they've had from the past couple years and it's not going to be an easy match by any stretch. It very well could go five sets like it did the first time we saw them."
 
The NSU offense could not keep pace with the frenetic Texas A&M-Corpus Christi attack on Thursday, falling in straight sets as the Islanders had just 11 unforced errors on 120 swings with a .275 team hitting percentage.
 
While the defense continued to provide, picking up seven total blocks and 13.3 digs per set, Corpus found ways to get kills off the Demon block throughout the night to a number of 3-1 or greater scoring runs.
 
In the first meeting between UIW and NSU earlier this season the Demons put up 19 total blocks, the second most in a single match this year behind the school-record-tying 20 at Texas A&M-Commerce. Five different players have five or more block assists on the night led by Reaghan Thompson and Tessa Gerwig with eight each. 
 
The Demons used the momentum created by the eight total blocks in the fourth and fifth sets of the match to win the match and finish with seven kills on 17 error-free swing in the fifth set to accompany those four blocks.
 
Their toughest task against the Cardinals could be the efficiency of UIW middle Annamarie Alvarez who is the only player in the Southland with a hitting percentage over .400 for the entire season. She had only played in three sets over the last six matches before tallying nine kills on 19 swings in the five-set win over Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday.
 
Just twice this season when she has played a full match has Alvarez hit below .200, one of those came against the Demons. NSU limited her to six kills over the final three sets after 11 in the first two.
 
It will be the task of the Demon offense to find its form again after facing three straight top-tier defensive units in a row that represent three of the top teams in the conference. After four matches with percentages above .225 for the day, they have not cracked .200 as a team over the previous three.
 
Teresa Garza is the most set attacker in the conference with 1,036 attempts this year, nearly twice as many as the next closest teammate, and is averaging 2.74 kills per set. She and Symone Wesley tied for the team lead with 13 kills each in the first meeting against UIW.