CARROLTON COUNTY, Ga. – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team opens the 2026 season this weekend in the West Georgia Tournament as they will play three games.

NSU will open Friday at 1 p.m. CT when they take on the West Georgia Wolves. Then, the Demons play Saturday at 9 a.m. CT versus Presbyterian College Blue Hose before wrapping up the weekend at noon CT Saturday against the Grambling Tigers.

"We're ready to play something that means something," said second-year head volleyball coach Ben Kaszeta. "Sometimes you're not sure if you're ready and you have some extra jitters and worries. But with this group of kids the way Jade (senior Jade Longlad) and Emmarie (Emmarie McFarland), I think we are ready and this is the first step to start preparing for our conference schedule."

The Demons have some momentum in their corner after a terrific performance against Alcorn State in the team's scrimmage Friday. The Demons won all four sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-15) and had 49 kills on their way to hitting .288 for the match.

"We played well in the scrimmage, but we need to clean up some things," said Kaszeta. "We chose  this week to focus on and our coverage and what happens when we get blocked. We've got to make sure we respond and know where we're supposed to be. There's a whole lot of confusion and chaos when that happens and so we need to think and react through chaos."

One thing that has made Kaszeta excited is the depth of the team and how far that could take them throughout the 2026 season.

"We are pretty deep," said Kaszeta. "We could go four deep in the middle and four deep on the pins. But we have to see how much of that is being protected in our home gym by a good environment. Well, this weekend we will see a little bit more of a neutral atmosphere. But we're young with a whole lot of new faces so it's going to be intriguing to see how they react when it is in some tense moments. But depth wise, I have no idea. It's going to be fun to find out though."

NSU began their 550-mile eight hour and 37-minute trip from Prather Coliseum to the campus of West Georgia University early Thursday morning departing at 6 a.m.
"This trip is going to help us," said Kaszeta. "We have a couple of long road trips like this during conference. The bus ride to Corpus (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) is 10 and half hours so it's not the longest and it's not the last but it will help us get better to prepare for games a long way from home."

Another bright spot heading into the weekend is the production of the nine freshmen during the preseason including Anna Claire Hebert. The Breaux Bridge, Louisiana native and setter who thinks the team is ready to put its best foot forward as her collegiate career begins.

"I'm really excited," said Hebert. "We've got a lot of depth on the team and so no one's spot is given. Which means everyone has the fight and grit that we need to be successful."

Friday's game against WGA will be available live on ESPN+. Saturday's games with Presbyterian and Grambling will have live stats for both.