CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Huskies kick off the 2023 Southland Conference Volleyball Championship on Friday at 3 p.m. facing off against Northwestern State in Dugan Wellness Center.

The Huskies (18-12, 13-5 SLC) enter the conference tournament as the 4^th seed and received a first-round bye playing the winner of the 5^th seed Northwestern State vs. the 8^th seed Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lady Demons swept the Lions on Wednesday in straight sets (25-9, 25-20, 25-20). HCU has dominated the Lady Demons sweeping both conference matchups this season and have won six straight against NSU with an 18-2 set differential.

The Huskies are led by second-team all-conference middle blocker Audrey Pearce. Pearce has been selected to the all-conference team for the 3^rd time after finishing the regular season 2^nd in the Southland averaging 1.13 blocks per set and 41^st in the national ranking with 121 total blocks on the year. Anna Gadway also earned second-team all-conference this season after averaging 2.87 kills per set and 3.19 points per set. Grace McLaughlin ended the year 3^rd in the conference dishing out an average of 10.26 assists per set while Kaley Feris led the Huskies back line finishing the season 4^th in the SLC averaging 4.27 digs per set.

The Lady Demons (14-16, 9-9 SLC) are led by Teresa Garza averaging 2.73 kills per set while second-team all-conference selection, Reaghan Thompson, led the Southland and ranked 7^th nationally averaging 1.51 blocks per set. Piper Boydstun averaged 4.77 assists per set and Ashlyn Svoboda finished third in the conference averaging 4.31 assists per set.

The winner of the quarter final match will advance to the semifinals of the 2023 Southland Conference Volleyball championship playing the No. 1 seed, Southeastern, on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Dugan Wellness Center.

Live broadcast for all conference championship matches will be available at ESPN+! Live stats are available at HCUHuskies.com!