THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls women's volleyball team will play its final two home matches of the year this weekend hosting the Texas State Bobcats and UT-Arlington Mavericks on Thursday and Saturday.

On Thursday, after the volleyball team squares off with the Bobcats, the Nicholls men's basketball team will take on the University of Mobile in an exhibition 30 minutes after the match concludes. Saturday will serve as senior day, as the team will recognize Rachel Yezak and Jordan Karst for their years of service to Colonels Athletics.

At 17-11 on the year and 4-8 in Southland play, the Colonels are tied with the Northwestern State Lady Demons for ninth place in the overall league standings. They are one game behind Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin who are tied for the eighth tournament spot at 5-7 in conference.

In order for the team to remain in contention for a spot they will need to keep pace with the Lady Demons, who the Colonels close the season with next Thursday in Natchitoches, as well as getting some help in the form of losses for both Stephen F. Austin and TAMUCC, as each hold the tiebreaker over the Colonels in the head-to-head matchup.

The tall task begins with facing the Bobcats for the last time as Southland members on Thursday as Texas State has won their last 11 conference matches and is 11-1 in the league. The Bobcats are second to UTSA in the league in record, blocks, kills, assists and opponent hitting percentage, but averages .263 hitting as a team which is the best in the conference.

The Bobcats are led by Amari Deardorff, a sophomore who is hitting .348 in league play to lead all players in that category, followed by Amber Calhoun and Melissa Toth who are also in the top ten. Caleigh McCorquodale is second in the league in assists averaging over ten per set.

Defensively, the Colonels will have to deal with Ashlee Hilbun and Calhoun who each average a block per set.

For the Mavs, they are tied with Lamar for the fifth seed in the tournament heading into this week at 10-16 overall and 6-6 in league play. The Mavs are led by reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week Tara Frantz and Defensive Player of the Week Alicia Shaffer as each posted huge numbers in wins last week. Shaffer currently leads the conference in digs per set, averaging 5.69.

The match on Thursday begins at 7 p.m. in Stopher Gym, while the senior day match against UTA will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon. There will be a live stream of both matches, along with live stats available at www.sidearmstats.com/nicholls/wvball and geauxcolonels.com/mobile.