SAN ANTONIO – On the heels of their first road conference win since 2023, The Northwestern State Demons face the UIW Cardinals Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the McDermott Center in San Antonio.

The Demons (9-7, 1-0 Southland) are coming off a 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-23 and 25-17) win over the Houston Christian Huskies Thursday night in Houston. NSU was led by Elsie Sanchez with 13 kills while Jade Longlad had 36 assists and Emmarie McFarland had 27 digs. But the Demons' x-factor was freshman Olivia Nzioki with 10 kills and nine blocks all of which came during crucial moments in the match. The win snapped a 17-game Southland Conference losing streak and an 18-game road Southland losing streak.

The Cardinals (3-7, 1-0 SLC) defeated East Texas A&M in their conference opener Thursday night home 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-13). UIW was led by Kitani Tu'ufuli with 15 kills and Calissa Allison with 37 assists. UIW comes into the matchup with Demons led by Tu'ufuli with 119 kills and 3.05 kills per set.

NSU enters Saturday's matchup leading the conference in total kill with 701 and second in kills per set (12.3). The Demons are also at or near the top in several individual categories in the Southland. Longlad leads the league in assists (488) and assists per set (9.38). McFarland is the pace setter in total digs with 285 and is second in digs per set (5.00 dps). Sanchez is second in total kills with 166 while Nzioki is second in points (186.5) and points per set (3.73).

Despite the individual numbers favoring the Demons heading into Saturday, the history doesn't. NSU has lost five in a row to the Cardinals and 15 out of the last 16 sets.

"UIW is good," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "They took a set from LSU, Baylor and Iowa so they've been playing competitively with some power four schools. This is another well coached team by a friend of mine (Gabriel Ording UIW head coach). They are a well-respected team in our conference. So, they will come out prepared to play and win."

Saturday's match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats available at NSUDemons.com. Live updates and video highlights will also be available at the NSU volleyball twitter page @NSUDemonsVB.