NATCHITOCHES – After what has felt like a season on the road, Northwestern State gets to spend most of the final two weeks of the season at home.
 
The Demons play three of their final four matches of the season at home beginning on Thursday night when they host UIW at 6:30 p.m. The match can also be seen on ESPN+.
 
As with every home match during the volleyball season, admission is free to fans and Thursday's match will serve as Student Leader's Night where NSU volleyball will honor student organization leaders that have gone above and beyond their duties at NSU.
 
Thursday's rematch with UIW is a must win for Northwestern. With just four matches remaining in the season, the Demons sit on the outside looking in at the eight-team conference tournament field.
 
Success in the crunch time of the season or a match requires plays to be made and mistakes to be minimized. While the Demons have made their fair share of plays this season, the mistakes in those critical moments have cost them more than they would like.
 
The latest instance of missteps in key moments bit the Demons in Tuesday's loss at Texas A&M-Commerce. Up 23-21 in the first set, poised to take the match lead, a pair of kills and a pair of hitting errors led to a 4-0 Lion run to steal the set.
 
The Demons clawed their way back from an early 8-0 serving run in the second to make for a more tense finish to the frame, but were unable to slow the effectiveness of the Lion attack who had seven kills over their final nine points of the set.
 
"We're just standing in our way right now making either costly mistakes at the end of sets, giving up a lead early or ending our own scoring runs.," head coach Sean Kiracofe said following the match on Tuesday. "If you take just a couple of unforced errors out of the mix any of these sets could have gone our way."
 
The Demons lost the first two sets on Tuesday by a combined five points. They have lost six sets over the past two weeks by three points or less.
 
In the first meeting with UIW on Oct. 5, the Demons held off three straight set points before tying the first set at 24. They were not able to fully complete the comeback though as UIW scored on a kill and block on next two serves to win 26-24.
 
NSU has put itself in position to win nearly every set its played and has continued to see flashes of individual and team brilliance during the past few matches. Getting those same moments in the critical points is the step the Demons need to see over the final four matches of the season.
 
The Demons have hit over .250 twice in the past three matches, their two best single-match performances of the season. They averaged 13.8 kills per set against HCU and 14.3 at Commerce.
 
Reaghan Thompson has had three straight double-doubles that began with the first 20-kill, 20-dig performance since 2019 against HCU. Her and Teresa Garza combined for 27 kills against the Lions on Tuesday.