THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University women's beach volleyball team will open postseason play Friday, April 22 in the Southland Conference Championship, hosted at the Third Coast Volleyball Club in Houston. 

The double-elimination tournament concludes Sunday with a single-match title bout. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, May 6-8, in Gulf Shores, Ala.

Nicholls (1-23) enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will take on No. 4 Southeastern at 11 a.m. The Lady Lions (11-19) defeated the Colonels in all three meetings this season, including last weekend's 4-1 victory at LSU. 

Kennedi Steele and Katie Jones have been the top pair for the Colonels this season with a 3-8 overall mark. Kylie Lockhart and Emily Gauthreaux also have multiple wins (2-8), highlighted by a three-set victory at No. 2 in last Friday's matchup against Southeastern. 

The winner of the match advances to play top-seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 1 p.m. on Friday.