Box Score

NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team ran into a true Southland Conference juggernaut Thursday night in Prather Coliseum, suffering a 3-0 defeat to unbeaten Texas-San Antonio – 25-17, 25-15 and 25-22.

 

Kelly Jimenez led the way for NSU (8-16, 4-7), crushing a match-high 11 kills (.265) over the UTSA (17-8, 11-0) blockers. She also dug up nine Roadrunner attacks.

 

“Kelly is a great competitor, and putting up these kinds of numbers against the best team in our conference certainly says a lot about her abilities,” said co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. “We are really proud of her effort tonight.”

 

Earning her second start of the season at setter, Lauren Joyner dished out a season-best 20 assists. Joyner started in place of Emily Sweet, who will miss the rest of the season due to a personal injury.

 

“One of the fears of changing setters is that the offense will be out of rhythm at the start of the match, but tonight we ran it pretty well with Joyner in,” Hernesman said. “It's nice being able to fall back on a player who has a year of experience in the program. She played well tonight.”

 

Keelie Arneson anchored the defense with a match-high 19 digs and also tallied a career-high nine assists. Arneson was used as a setter in the third frame, and Tamara Hanna registered six digs as the libero.

 

“Keelie played fantastic; she hardly missed any balls that came her way. She passed really well, especially in serve-receive, and that helped make Joyner's job a little bit easier. Overall, Keelie is just a great all-around volleyball player,” Hernesman said.

 

Stacey DiFrancesco finished with nine kills and five digs, while Vanessa Coleman spiked seven.

 

UTSA improved to 33-0 in sets against SLC opponents, and has not been defeated since Sept. 17 when they dropped a 3-1 affair on the road to Texas, who is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation.

 

“UTSA is just so balanced. It has a very talented setter and the best libero in the conference,” Hernesman said. “They have talented players up and down their roster, with a ton of weapons at every position.”

 

In the first set, the Lady Demons fell behind, 6-3, but quickly tied it 7-7 after a couple kills by Coleman. Still tied 9-9, NSU took the lead 12-9 after a three-point spurt that was led by two kills from Jimenez. Though, the Roadrunners came storming back and went on a big 12-4 run to take the lead, 21-16. They then finished it, 25-17.

 

After dropping the second set 25-15, the Lady Demons made a change and brought in Hanna to play at libero. Arneson moved to setter.

 

NSU fell behind in the third, 9-4, but bounced back after Jimenez finished on three consecutive attacks to make it 9-8. The teams then exchanged points, and the Lady Demons kept it close, down 17-16 after a kill by Mackenzie Neely. However, strong attacks from the Roadrunners extended their lead up to 24-20. NSU saved a couple match points after DiFrancesco aimed her attacks in the right spots, but UTSA was able to end it, 25-22.

 

DiFrancesco put away four attacks in the third, while Hanna had six digs.

 

“Despite Sweet being out, our goals do not change. Other people are going to have to step up for us,” Hernesman said. “We are a confident group, we know we can do it and we are looking forward to practice tomorrow and facing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday.”

 

The Lady Demons will look to bounce back on Saturday when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 2 p.m. at Prather Coliseum to close out the weekend.