NATCHITOCHES - The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team closes in a Southland Conference Tournament spot as they host the East Texas A&M Lions Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum for the home finale.

The Demons (14-15, 6-8 SLC) enter Thursday tied for seventh in the SLC standings with Lamar (9-18, 6-8 SLC) and have a one-game lead over the Lions. With a win Thursday, NSU will clinch at least the eighth seed in the conference tournament which begins Friday, Nov. 20 in Corpus Christi, Texas. NSU hasn't qualified for the conference tournament since 2023.

"The key for us is not to change our approach," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "Our goal from day one is to get one percent better every day. Thursday, we have a great opponent and a very good team. They are the biggest size-wise team we have seen all year. They have three or four kids that are very good volleyball players and are going to be a very big block as well. They present a couple of different challenges for us so it will be fun. Anything after Thursday is irrelevant to us right now. Take care of business Thursday and then we will look and see."

The Demons defeated UT-Rio Grande Valley (14-11, 10-4 SLC) last Saturday 3-1 led by 54 assists from Jade Longlad and Olivia Nzioki's 18 kills snapping a six-game losing streak to the Vaqueros. NSU was able to pick up the win despite a season-high 34 attack errors.

The Demons will be trying to snap another skid Thursday against the Lions as ETAM has defeated the Demons four straight times and won 12 of the last 13 sets against NSU.
The Lions come into Thursday coming off back-to-back road wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (9-16, 5-9 SLC) on Saturday 3-1 and a five-set thriller over UTRGV on Thursday.

The Lions are led by Ariana Brown offensively (3.13 kills per set). The senior from Houston, Brown had 16 kills in the win over UTRGV and 10 against A&M-Corpus Christi. Defensively, the Lions' Jade Washington is averaging 4.69 digs per set, fourth in the Southland.

"We know that this is a different and difficult task," said Kaszeta. "Yeah, everyone knows what's at stake this week. But we are focused solely on what East Texas A&M does and what we need to do to slow them down and that will be enough to make sure nobody thinks about anything else other than winning this match."

Fans can watch Thursday'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.