NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team returns home Thursday night looking to snap a three-game losing streak as they host the Houston Christian University Huskies for 'Bad Tunes' night at Prather Coliseum at 6:30 p.m.

Fans are encouraged to sign up for the bad tunes promotion where they can pick a song to play before the opponent serves. Check the following link for more information www.NSUDemons.com/BadTunes.

The Demons (12-13, 4-6 SLC) come into the week tied for seventh place in the Southland Conference standings with McNeese (8-13, 4-6 SLC) with just six matches remaining in the regular season. NSU is trying to qualify for the conference tournament for the first time since 2023. East Texas A&M (9-14, 3-7 SLC) and HCU (5-17, 3-7 SLC) are tied for eighth. The top eight teams qualify for the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament which is Friday, Nov. 20-Sunday, Nov. 22 at the Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

NSU and HCU will face off for the second time this year as the Demons defeated the Huskies 3-1 in Houston in the conference opener on Sept. 24. Elsie Sanchez and Olivia Nzioki led the way with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Senior setter Jade Longlad had 36 assists while sophomore utility Emmarie McFarland had 27 digs to help NSU to a hard-fought win.

"This is a different team than the first time we played them," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "They had five kids a month ago that couldn't travel with them for one reason or another and now they have three of them back. So, these last couple of weeks they have slowly gotten better. I expect a better team to come in here Thursday."

As for the Demons, Sanchez leads the team for the season with 3.37 kills per set offensively which is fifth in the SLC. Longlad is third in assists per set at 9.39 while McFarland's 4.75 digs per set is also third.

The Huskies have won back-to-back matches over McNeese and Nicholls (9-14, 2-8 SLC) at home coming into Thursday.

"They've done a good job the last two games of breaking from patterns that were hurting them early in the season," said Kaszeta. "But we will look back to how we scored against them the first time and they should still be there Thursday."

HCU's offense is paced by setter Enisilina Savelio, out of Henderson, Nevada, with 9.49 assists per set (2^nd in the SLC behind UTRGV's Lana Rnjak, 9.88 aps). Katy Barger is the number one option at the net as her 254 kills and 2.92 k.p.s leads the team.

Historically, the Huskies have had the upper hand leading the all-time series 19-8 over the Demons and have won eight of the last 10. However, they are just 1-9 on the road this year beating Texas Southern out of the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) 3-1 on Sept. 3.

Fans can watch Wednesday's match on ESPN+ as Patrick Netherton and Caley Carter will have the call. Live stats will be available at NSUDemons.com while live updates can be found on twitter/X on the NSU volleyball page @NSUDemonsVB.