HAMMOND – The Northwestern State volleyball team will continue its five-game conference road trip this weekend with matches at Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday and Nicholls State on Saturday.

 

NSU (3-12, 0-3) is coming off a pair of close battles against Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State last weekend. NSU had the Bearkats on the ropes after taking the second set and leading early in the third, but SHSU was able to come back and oust the Lady Demons in four.

Keelie Arneson was everywhere defensively for NSU, averaging 7.14 digs per set in the two matches. She registered game-highs in digs against both SFA and SHSU, including 22 against the Ladyjacks and an astounding 28 against the Bearkats. She also contributed with five assists against SFA, and three more against SHSU.

Arneson then earned Player of the Week Honorable Mention on Monday for her outstanding play over the weekend. The Tomball, Texas native currently leads the team with 286 digs on the season and ranks fourth in the Southland Conference in that category (5.11 d/s).

On offense, Stacey DiFrancesco propelled much of the attack by registering game-highs in kills against both SFA and SHSU – including a career-high 20 against the Bearkats. She also recorded a double-double in that same match with 12 digs and three blocks to go along with it.

Furthermore, DiFrancesco was huge in the second set against SHSU, where she tallied eight kills and a couple of digs to give NSU the 25-23 edge.

DiFrancesco currently ranks third in the SLC in kills (3.38 k/s), and her 20 put-aways against SHSU is the best four-set performance by any SLC attacker in conference matches to date.

As a team, NSU out-blocked SFA 7-6 and SHSU 13-10. Emily Sweet posted a career-high seven stuffs against the Bearkats, while Mackenzie Neely recorded four against the Ladyjacks. Vanessa Coleman also came up big with nine blocks in the two matches.

“Our blocking is definitely improving. Our outside hitters are setting better blocks and are lining up the opponent hitters a lot better which is a really big component to what we're doing,” said co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. “We can't just rely on our middle-blockers to do it all, our outsides have to contribute too and that's how we will be even more successful in the future.”

Southeastern Louisiana (4-15, 0-2) comes into the match on a six-game skid, including losses at Lamar and McNeese State. The Lions have wins over Jackson State, Southern, Grambling State and Louisiana-Monroe so far this season. They also took Louisiana Tech to five-sets.

Junior middle-blocker Courtney Donald is the team's leading attacker with 163 kills on the season and a .196 hitting percentage. Sophomore setter Lindsey Young is also a big contributor as she hits at a .240 mark, has tallied 468 assists (7.20 a/s) and has also registered 23 aces on the season. Sophomore libero Megan McMillan leads the way on defense with 210 digs (3.39 d/s) and is also third on the team with 18 assists.

Nicholls State (14-4, 1-1) just had its 13-match win streak come to an end after falling to Lamar in straight sets on Saturday. The Colonels dominated the Southwestern Athletic Conference during their big run, winning 10 matches against opponents from the respective conference. Nicholls State also has wins over South Alabama, Louisiana-Monroe and, most notably, a five-setter over McNeese State this season.

The Colonels are led by junior middle-blocker Sarah Terry who leads the SLC in hitting percentage (.370). She has committed just 26 errors on 216 attacks this season. Junior outside-hitter Jennifer Brandt leads the team in kills (155) and also ranks third in the conference in service aces (0.53 ace/s). Defensively, Nicholls State requires a team effort, as six different players have registered over 100 digs on the season.

“Mental preparation is going to be big for us going into this weekend. We're always going to be working on our defensive systems, offensive tempo and serving, but staying totally invested heading into games can sometimes be really difficult for young teams,” said Hernesman. “We just have to continue to approach our gameplay the same way we approach our training.”  

NSU will close out its conference road trip with a rematch against defending Southland Conference champions Central Arkansas next Wednesday. The Sugar Bears squeaked by the Lady Demons in the first matchup this season by coming out on the front end of a very tight five-setter at Prather Coliseum.