THIBODAUX, La. – After a tough pair of matches on the road last weekend, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team returns to Stopher Gym hosting the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Sam Houston State Bearkats Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

After taking the first two Southland matches of the year, the Colonels are 5-8 on the season and 2-2 in the conference after losses to Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts last weekend. However, the Colonels are still in one of the top eight slots currently in a logjam with three other teams in a tie for fourth place in the league standings.

Through 13 games so far, Nancy Taylor is tenth in assists in the Southland averaging 6.46 per set, while Jasmine Harris is ninth in aces with 14 and Jeanne Logarbo is ninth in digs with 156 for 3.55 per set.

In conference matches alone the Colonels have a few more representatives among the league leaders, as Sarah Terry and Jessica Addicks are both hitting above .300, with Addicks second in aces with eight already, while Taylor is averaging 7.79 assists per set. Jennifer Brandt is eighth in digs with 47 for a 3.36 dig per set average, followed by Logarbo who has 46 for a 3.29 digs per set average.

Also beginning the season 2-0 in conference before two setbacks last weekend is the Colonels' first opponent in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders dropped a pair of matches to Northwestern State and Sam Houston State and enter Thursday's match 9-6 overall.

Corpus Christi has four players with over 100 kills on the season led by Shannon Hullum's 141. Logan Bourque leads the team in assists with 475 while Micah Nolan has 232 digs and Brooke Alverson has 54 blocks to pace the team defensively.

Nicholls is 1-5 all-time against the Islanders, with the lone win coming in Corpus Christi in 2008. In last year's only meeting, the Colonels fell in five sets after battling back to force the deciding frame falling behind two sets to one.

The Bearkats opened conference play with a win over ORU before falling to Central Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin in consecutive matches, regrouping to take down the Islanders last Saturday to enter this week 6-9 on the year. Sam, hitting .157 as a team overall, is hitting 181 in the Southland while holding opponents to just a .127 average on the other side.

SHSU is led by Deveney Wells-Gibson who has 210 kills and is hitting .226 on the season with ten aces and 24 total blocks. Tayler Gray has 553 assists and is second in digs behind Jamie Hass who has 198. Kim Black is a force at the net as she leads the Southland with 77 total blocks, averaging 1.38 blocks per set.

Historically, Nicholls has struggled against the Bearkats with a 6-34 record all-time against Sam Houston. However, one of the last wins over Sam came in the 2009 Southland Conference tournament, snapping a ten match losing streak and earning the first postseason tournament win for the Colonels since the 90's.

Live stats of the match, along with streaming video, will be available at geauxcolonels.com.