Box Score

NATCHITOCHES – Southland Conference kills leader Deveney Wells-Gibson knocked down 23 attacks en-route to a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 25-11) win for Sam Houston State over the Northwestern State volleyball team Saturday afternoon in Prather Coliseum.

The Lady Demons (13-10 overall, 9-2 SLC) celebrated lone senior Jessica Guttierrez before the match for her four years of service to the program. The Bearkats improve to 14-7overall, 11-1 in the league with the win.

"Sam Houston played really good defense and we just got outplayed," said fourth year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. "I thought they competed harder than we did, and we're not surprised by that. That's a typical Sam Houston team – they compete really hard."

Sam Houston used a 25-11 domination in set four to seal their fifth win in a row. The Bearkats used two four-point runs to build a lead early in the set, and put the Lady Demons at an arm's length from then on.

NSU's lone win of the day came in set two. The Lady Demons put up an early 6-2 lead, and only trailed the Bearkats by one before battling back late in the game to take a 25-23 win.

NSU started off well in the first set, taking a 9-5 lead before Sam Houston battled back and tied the score at 10. The Bearkats tacked on six more points compared to NSU's three before the Lady Demons called a timeout. Northwestern State was unable to battle back, falling 25-22.

The Bearkats came out of the break ready to finish the game, stringing together a five-point run and taking a 7-2 lead. Sam Houston then tacked-on a game-high seven-point run to take a commanding 16-5 lead en-route to the 25-14 final.

Stacey DiFrancesco and Ashley Elrod led the attack for NSU, knocking down 11 and 10 kills respectively, while digging up seven attacks each.

Setters Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger dished out a combined 32 assists, while libero Keelie Arneson recorded 26 digs. Jaeger also dug up 11 Bearkat attacks for her third double-double of the season.

DiFrancesco and Glynna Johnson led from the middle with four blocks each.

The Lady Demons host Oral Roberts on Tuesday at 7:00 at Prather before hitting the road to Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word on Thursday and Saturday.