­Box Score

HAMMOND – Emily Sweet dished out a career-high 46 assists and recorded a double-double to guide Northwestern State past Southeastern Louisiana on Thursday in the University Center - 25-14, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-20.
 
The Lady Demons (4-12, 1-3) came out of the locker room and dominated the Lions in the first couple sets, and then finished them off after a late rally in the fourth.
 
“Our team came out focused and was very hungry for our first conference win,” said co-head coach Hugh Hernesman.  “It was really important for us to come out and have a good showing tonight.”
 
Sweet was instrumental in the victory, posting 12 digs, three aces and a kill to go along with her 46 assists to give the Lady Demons the edge.
 
NSU also had big performances from Stacey DiFrancesco and Kelly Jimenez who both registered double-doubles against SLU (4-16, 0-3) as well. DiFrancesco posted a game-high 16 kills, a career-high 14 kills, two blocks and an ace, while Jimenez tallied 14 kills, 10 digs and three aces.
 
Mackenzie Neely contributed offensively as well with six kills and a career-high .556 hitting mark. She also had a couple of blocks defensively.  Vanessa Coleman pitched in with six kills and a block.
 
“Mackenzie's .556 is a really good number. We could have gotten her the ball a little bit more, but she had some really crucial kills for us in the fourth set,” said Hernesman.
 
Nicole Hajka was explosive early, and finished with eight kills, two aces and two digs. Hajka also committed just three errors while hitting at a .294 percentage.
 
“The big thing we've been working on with Nicole is reducing her hitting errors. There are some situations where we have to be aggressive, and other times we have to be safer, and today she did a nice job of that,” Hernesman said.
 
In the back row, Keelie Arneson recorded 14 digs and Jessica Guttierrez had 9.
 
An early 5-0 run put NSU ahead in the first set, 6-1, after Jimenez recorded a kill and an ace. DiFrancesco then took over, finishing on five attacks to spark a big 11-5 run for the Lady Demons to go up 17-6. Later leading 18-8, Hajka got in the action with three kills to extend the NSU lead out to 21-9. The Lady Demons then finished the set, 25-14, after DiFrancesco rejected a SLU attack.
 
DiFrancesco registered seven kills, four digs and a block in the set while hitting at a .500 mark. Hajka had a perfect set, hitting at 1.000 percent after finishing on all three of her attacks. Arneson dug up five attacks defensively, while Guttierrez had three.  Sweet dished out 14 assists in the first set to account for NSU's 15 kills and a .414 team hitting percentage.
 
The Lady Demons started down 3-0 in the second set, but a 5-0 run on Hajka's serve got them ahead 5-3. Still leading 7-6, DiFrancesco put away three attacks to spurt another 5-0 run to go up 11-6. SLU then went on a 4-0 run to tie it at 14-14, and the score remained close all the way up to 20-19. This is when NSU broke it open, going on a 5-1 run to take the set 25-20 after Hajka finished on a couple of attacks.
 
Jimenez had the hot hand in the second set, putting away five swings and tallying seven digs. DiFrancesco and Hajka were big contributors as well, finishing on four attacks each. Hajka hit .500 in the second, and was at .667 through two sets. Coleman also had four kills in the second and hit at a .429 mark in the set.
 
Sweet's 31 assists had NSU hitting .333 as a team at the break.
 
After trailing 7-4 to start the third, Hajka and Sweet had kills to cut the deficit down to 9-8. Though, the Southeastern crowd started to come alive and the Lions got their lead up to 13-9. The Lady Demons later trailed 17-11 when Jimenez put a couple away, but SLU was able to get its lead back up to 22-16. NSU took the next two points to make it 22-18 after a Neely spike, but the Lions were able to finish it after a couple of miscues by the Lady Demons – 25-19.
 
Arneson and Sweet each had four digs to keep NSU in it, but the nine errors and -.097 hitting percentage really doomed the Lady Demons in the third.
 
NSU trailed 3-2 in the fourth before reeling off five in a row to go up 7-3 after a couple of DiFrancesco kills and an Arneson ace. After SLU took the next two points, a big Neely slam got NSU back up, 10-5. The Lady Demons then pushed their lead out to 19-12 after Neely and DiFrancesco each had kills. The Lions came back though, and after taking five straight the score was 21-19.  Jimenez registered a kill to put an end to the streak, and the Lady Demons were able to win it on a DiFrancesco spike, 25-20.
 
DiFrancesco propelled the offense in the fourth with five kills, while Neely came up big with three big kills in critical moments. Arneson and DiFrancesco each had four digs defensively, and Sweet dished out 10 more assists.
 
“We just made key plays toward the end of the fourth set and Mackenzie came up big for us," Hernesman said.
 
NSU is now 3-0 against SLU under co-head coaches Hugh and Stephanie Hernesman.
 
Up next, the Lady Demons will look to keep rolling when they travel to Thibodaux on Saturday to take on Nicholls State at 2.