HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Nicholls State University volleyball team will open regular-season play this weekend as the squad faces the Southern Miss Invitational in Hattiesburg. The Colonels will battle Southern on Friday at 5 p.m., before playing two matches on Saturday against Mercer (10 a.m.) and Southern Miss (6 p.m.).
 
Nicholls faced both Southern and Southern Miss in its 2014 campaign. The Colonels downed the Jaguars in straight sets, but fell to the Golden Eagles twice, 3-1 and 3-0. The squad will look to have another outstanding showing against Southern and improve on last year's performance against the Golden Eagles. The team's matchup with Mercer on Saturday will be the first meeting between the programs.
 
Nicholls was picked to finish ninth and eleventh in preseason Southland Conference polls, and will look to outperform league expectations for a second-straight year. Last season the Colonels were slated to finish 12^th in both preseason polls, but surpassed SLC expectations, reaching the conference tournament before eventually falling to the undefeated No. 1 seed Stephen F. Austin.
 
Friday's match will be the first of 16-consecutive road matches for Nicholls. The Colonels won't play a home match until Oct. 6, but will finish the regular-season with eight of their final 12 contests in the friendly confines of Stopher Gym. Nicholls will travel well over 2000 miles, across three states, before seeing action in Thibodaux.
 
"I think we've got a challenging non-conference schedule with a good mix of teams," Head Coach Tommy Harold said. "We'll be on the road until October and facing some good opponents from all over, but a lot of those road matches are still close to home."
 
The Colonels had an outstanding 2014 campaign, doubling their overall win total from the previous season, more than doubling their win total against Southland opponents and reaching the SLC Tournament for the first time since 2012. Nicholls excelled as a young team with only one senior on its 2014 roster. This year the Colonels return a number of starters with an influx of several strong offseason signees.
 
Nicholls will lean heavily on Preseason All-Southland First Team selection, Kaci Eaton. An Austin, Texas native, Eaton joined the Nicholls squad last season after spending a year with the University of North Texas. In 2014 she was named Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Southland Second Team, becoming the 12th player in program history to earn all-conference honors. Eaton was also named to the Louisiana Sports Writer's Association First Team.
 
"We're blending our returning veterans with newcomers, who we fully expect to compete for time," Harold said. "Our non-conference schedule will challenge us early, help our team grow together and we'll be ready to roll and compete for a Southland Conference championship."
 
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