Demons set for Southland opener Thursday at HCU
NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team opens Southland Conference play Thursday night on the road as it takes on the Houston Christian Huskies at Sharp Gym in Houston at 6:30 p.m.

The Demons (8-7) enter Southland play winners of seven of their last eight as they had a seven-game winning streak snapped Saturday by the Troy Trojans on the road this past Saturday. Despite the loss, NSU's non-conference season has been very kind to them. After a 1-6 start to the season, the Demons enter Southland Conference play this season with eight wins and three Southland Player of the Week awards.

"We're growing every game," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "We made some mistakes in some of the games and recovered well. But we're still trying to get over that third set slump. But I thought we really responded well against Troy. That's a really good team with a lot of upper classmen. They popped us in that first set but we gave ourselves a chance in the second and third sets but came up short so I like where we're at."

Last week, NSU's Emmarie McFarland earned Defensive Player of the Week while Olivia Nzioki was tabbed Offensive Player of the Week.

This past Monday, Jade Longlad received SLC Setter of the Week. Longlad, a senior setter, leads the SLC in assists with 476 and is 12th in the country. The Calgary, Alberta, Canada native, Longlad is closing in on 1,000 career assists as she enters Thursday's game with 877.

"We've done some good things in non-conference with these awards," said Kaszeta. "But its still about perspective. We haven't done what we want to do yet. We've been saying over and over that we want to play a complete game, and we haven't done that yet. Our goal is to walk off the court knowing we did everything right. We're getting close but not yet."

The Demons begin the conference slate against a team that has been a bit of a nemesis of late to them in HCU (2-10). The Demons are just 1-9 in their last 10 games against the Huskies including a pair of sweeps last season. NSU's only win in the last 10 games against HCU was in 2024 when the Demons won in five sets at home 19-17 in the fifth frame.

However, it's been a struggle thus far for the Huskies this season as they enter Thursday's contest with just two wins this year. But it's a little deceptive because four of their losses have come in five sets.

"Houston Christian is a very good program," said Kaszeta. "They're always in the mix of things. Their head coach, Trent Herman, is a terrific coach and has been around a while. They've played a couple of power four schools to begin with and lost several matches in five sets. So, their record means nothing. I'm expecting them to give us all we can handle."

The Huskies are led by junior outside hitter Katy Barger with 132 kills (2.75 kps). Like the Demons, HCU also has a pretty good setter in Enisilina Savelio who has 415 assists (8.65 aps).

Fans can follow Thursday's match on ESPN+ or by following live stats at NSUDemons.com. Live updates will also be posted at the Demon volleyball twitter page@NSUDemonsVB.