NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team opened practice this week under second-year head coach Ben Kaszeta with a young but talented squad assembled for the 2026 season.

"This is really going to be a fun group of kids to coach," said Kaszeta. "They came in a few weeks early to work out with the strength coach. But what's impressed me is how good the energy has been at practice the first few days. This group is hungry and wants to win, which is a coach's dream."

With one senior, five sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and nine incoming freshmen on the roster, the Demons' focus this week is installing the offense and seeing how the team adapts to a new system.

"The thing that's been good to watch is how they are coachable despite the youth," said Kaszeta. "Even if they fail, they are willing to try something new. So, I love the fact that they are willing to compete which shows a high level of maturity for a young group."

While the team has the intangibles Kaszeta is looking for. The Demons' second year man wants the team to run the offense a bit more consistently. Senior Jade Longlad will be a big contributor in helping that. The Calgary, Canada native, as the only senior on the team, has drawn the praise of Kaszeta through the first few days. NSU will also have the services of freshmen Anna Claire Hebert and Camilia Torquati who could both see time at setter.

"Jade has helped a lot with getting the offense jump started," Kaszeta said. "She's done a good job in practice with setting some expectations for Camilia and Anna to run the offense. But Jade has done a good job of taking the role of leadership."

The Demons are also looking to find the front-line offensive production they need after losing 74 percent of the team's kills from last year. Sophomore Elsie Sanchez Oliver is the leading candidate after she had 117 kills (2.17 kps) in 2025. But Kaszeta is confident that there are many other options including redshirt freshman Riley Schubert and incoming freshmen Ana Gjorgjievska, Gillian Grace Wolf and Amber Craig.

"The funny thing is we talked about this last night, and we don't know who the top option is going to be," said Kaszeta. "And that's a good thing because while Elsie's an option she also has a crazy good arm so I'm looking for things from her in other areas too. But we have a lot of options at the net. Ana has a wide range where she can hit hard down the line and to the deep corner and she can jump in there. Then Gillian plays with great this super energy and rips and goes after balls. Amber puts up a great block and two shots that are almost unreturnable. And then Riley, as a left-hander, makes things tough because the defense is used to seeing a right-handed attack, so she comes from different angles. Elsie may be running the show and leading the charge but there are a bunch of other ones in the mix."

With the team beginning to take shape as the season approaches, Kaszeta has a one-word message for his team in the next few weeks before the team scrimmages Alcorn State Friday, Aug. 21 at home at 6:30 p.m.

"Compete," Kaszeta said emphatically. "Our focus is to compete. Because I know we will make mistakes, but I want us to be aggressive. I want to be aggressive on the service line. I want to be aggressive on the swings. I don't want us to be afraid to make mistakes. The biggest focus will be to simply compete."