SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team goes back on the road Thursday as it takes on the University of Incarnate Word Cardinals Thursday at 6 p.m. at the McDermott Center.

The Demons (1-23, 0-10 SLC) are coming off a home loss to league-leading Stephen F. Austin (14-7, 9-1 SLC) Saturday afternoon. NSU showed signs of improvement as they pushed SFA to the brink in the second set before falling 25-23.\

"We really did a lot of good things in that match," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "I think we're continuing to grow each day, and we saw that Saturday. "That (SFA) is a really good team we played and I think we can build on it."

The Cardinals (11-11, 7-3 SLC) defeated the New Orleans Privateers (7-16, 2-8 SLC) Saturday to remain tied for fourth place in the conference standings.

The Demons and Cardinals match up for the second time this season with UIW beating NSU, 3-0, at Prather Coliseum back on Sept. 25 in Natchitoches. The Cardinals had 37 kills in the match to just 21 for the Demons led by Deja Benjamin and Makenna Tryon with five. Tryon also had 12 digs while Emmarie McFarland had 10 to aid the defense.

NSU enters Thursday led by Benjamin with 170 kills (2.18 k/s). Junior Jade Longlad continues to lead the Southland in aces with 42, tied with UT-Rio Grande Valley's Isabella Constantini. Kyla Malone leads the way for UIW with 227 kills while Finley Evans is right behind with 218.   

The Demons will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak against UIW with their last win in the series coming Oct. 7, 2023, in Natchitoches.

Following Thursday match, the Demons will head east to take on Houston Christian Saturday at 1 p.m.