THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team (13-14, 5-9 Southland Conference) heads into the final weekend of the regular season looking to clinch their third consecutive Southland Conference Tournament appearance as the Colonels get set to host Central Arkansas (24-7, 13-1 Southland Conference) on Thursday and Northwestern State (12-15, 3-11 Southland Conference) on Saturday.

Nicholls heads into the weekend tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for the eighth and final Southland Tournament berth.  However, the Islanders own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Colonels after claiming a 3-1 win at Nicholls on Oct.15.  In order for Nicholls to pass AMCC in the league standings, the Colonels need to either: win both matches this weekend and have the Islanders lose at Texas State or at Texas-Arlington, or win one match this weekend and have AMCC lose both of their weekend matches.

The Colonels will face a tough challenge on Thursday in the form of league power Central Arkansas.  Fully eligible for NCAA Division I postseason competition for the first time since beginning the move up from NCAA Division II four years ago, the Bears have already established themselves as arguably the best in the Southland Conference.

UCA picked up their first conference loss at Texas-San Antonio on Aug. 30, but the Bears rebounded by winning each of their next two matches.

The Colonels will look to split the season series with the Bears after dropping a hard-fought loss at UCA on Oct. 2 that, despite the 3-0 (21-25, 22-25, 22-25) final score, saw Nicholls battle UCA through 14 tie scores and six lead changes and finish within four points of UCA in all three sets.

Nicholls is led by one of the best statistical defenses in the nation as the Colonels ranked No. 17 in the nation with a 17.43 dig/set average.  Junior libero Danielle Daigle leads the way with a 5.71 dig/set average that ranks eighth in the nation.

It marks the eighth consecutive week that Daigle enters the top ten in the nation in digs/set.  Since the NCAA began posting their weekly rankings beginning the week of Sept. 13, Daigle has never appeared lower than tenth in the national rankings, topping out as the national leader in dig/set average on Sept. 20.

First serve between the Colonels and Bears is set for 7 p.m. in Stopher Gym.  Following the contest, the Colonels will return to action by concluding the regular season by looking for a season sweep of Northwestern State on Saturday with a 2 p.m. first serve against the Demons.

Prior to first serve with the Demons, the Colonels will celebrate Senior Day 2010 by honoring seniors Chelsea Dockrey and Elise King with a prematch ceremony in Stopher Gym.