NATCHITOCHES, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros volleyball team will travel to play the Northwestern State (NSU) Demons at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches, La. The Vaqueros enters the match as one of two unbeaten teams in the Southland Conference (SLC).

Last Saturday, UTRGV (8-7, 4-0 SLC) grinded out a 3-0 win over Houston Christian University (HCU) at home. The Vaqueros were all over the SLC weekly awards, as setter Lana Rnjak earned her third Setter of the Week honor of the season, middle blocker Julianna Bryant received honorable mention for Defensive Player of the Week and right-side hitter Ema Petkovic received honorable mention for Attacker of the Week. Rnjak had a career-high 45 assists against HCU, her third match above 40 assists. Bryant was lethal in the match with a season-high 14 kills on .667 hitting while adding five blocks. Petkovic added 11 kills and seven digs to finish the week with 37 kills.

The Demons (10-9, 2-2 SLC) split their home series last week with a 3-2 loss to Southeastern before earning a 3-0 sweep over LSU New Orleans. Last Thursday's loss was the first time NSU lost at home this season. Two of the top setters in the conference will face off as Jade Longlad, who leads the Demons and the SLC with 9.50 assists per set, meets Rnjak, who ranks second in the league at 9.22 assists/set. Her primary target has been Elsie Sanchez, who is third in conference play at 3.40 kills per set. Defensively, Emmarie McFarland has the second-most digs in the conference with an average of 4.77 per set.

UTRGV leads the series over NSU 7-2 and has won five straight. Last season, the Vaqueros went to Natchitoches and earned a decisive 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-12) sweep over the Demons. Then-junior middle blocker Aaliyah Snead had seven kills on an errorless .700 hitting percentage while recording four blocks in the match. UTRGV is unbeaten in the series in conference play (4-0) and on the road (4-0) coming into Thursday's match. The last time that the Demons got the better of the Vaqueros was back in 2012 when the two teams met at the Lone Star Showdown.

One thing to watch on Thursday will be the first touch of each point. UTRGV comes into Thursday averaging 1.91 aces per set while NSU currently averages 1.67. Petkovic leads the Vaqueros and ranks sixth in the nation with an average of 0.69 aces per set. The Demons are getting aces by committee with six different players averaging more than 0.20 aces per set. Elizabeth Murgurza Rebollo and Anna Claire Herbert are tied for the team lead at 0.33.

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