THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State women's volleyball team returns home this Thursday and Saturday to open up the Southland Conference home slate hosting the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears and Northwestern State Lady Demons.

Coming off this weekend's matches, the Colonels split both contests defeating McNeese before having its 13-match winning streak snapped by the Lamar Cardinals last Saturday. Sitting at 14-4 on the season, the 13-straight is one of the longest in program history as Nicholls has already amassed the entire win total from 2010.

Four teams sit undefeated in conference play so far in Sam Houston State (3-0), Texas-San Antonio (2-0) and Lamar (2-0), as the Cardinals are the only team in the Eastern Division with an early unblemished record.

Going into conference play, Nicholls was one of the best hitting, and stingiest defensive teams, although currently still second in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, blocks and services aces, the Colonels will have to shore up their conference stats, sitting tenth in opponent hitting percentage (.249) and last in service aces with two.

Fortunately, the team has not lost its offensive firepower, sitting fourth in conference play in hitting percentage (.229), assists (11.75/set) and kills (12.50/set). Junior middle blocker Sarah Terry still leads the conference in hitting percentage with a .370 average, while Jennifer Brandt is tied for ninth in kills with a 3.50/set, Jordan Karst sixth in assists with 9.71/set and Rachel Yezak tied for ninth in digs with 4.50/set

Central Arkansas heads into the Thursday match at 6-8 on the year and 2-1 in conference with wins over Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern so far this year, falling to Sam Houston State in five sets after holding a 2-0 lead. On the year, the Sugar Bears hover around the lower end of the spectrum in the conference, anywhere from ninth to 11th in most major categories. But since conference play started, UCA is tops in service aces (26), fifth in hitting percentage (.219) and opponent hitting percentage (.165) and sixth in assists (11.21 aps).

The two players to watch out for is UCA setter Marissa Collins who averages over ten per set, while Cristin Curl averages more than five digs per set so far in conference.

Since provisionally joining the Southland Conference in 2006, the Colonels have not beaten the Sugar Bears since that initial meeting and have lost the last ten contests, including conference tournament play.

Northwestern State sits at 3-12 on the year and 0-3 in SLC play, winless along with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Southeastern. Of their three losses, two have come at the hands of non-divisional foes Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, but did take UCA to five sets in their first meeting of the year.

One of the bright spots for the Lady Demons is their ability to catch teams sleeping on the serve with 22 aces in conference matches so far. Other than that the team is hitting only .105 collectively and giving up a .193 percentage to opponents.

The match against the Sugar Bears will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, with the Northwestern State match beginning on Saturday at 2 p.m., both at Stopher Gym. Each match will be live streamed at ThibodauxOnline.com, with live stats available at www.sidearmstats.com/nicholls/wvball at GeauxColonels.com and GeauxColonels.com/mobile.