Box Score TULSA, Okla. – Ashley Elrod, Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger all put up double-doubles to aid in the Northwestern state volleyball team's 3-2 (25-17, 26-28, 20-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory over Oral Roberts in Southland Conference play Saturday afternoon at the Kenneth H. Cooper Aerobics Center.
 
The Lady Demons (8-9 overall, 4-1 SLC) gave the Golden Eagles (13-3, 5-1) their first loss of the conference season with the win.
 
"We experienced a hard-fought, gutsy win right there against a very good and well-coached team," said fourth year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. "I was most impressed with how we were able to flip momentum again. We did it late in the fourth set last week against SFA and then again late in the fourth today."
 
After returning from the break with a tied game at one each, ORU went on to win set three by putting up two, four-point runs, one of which to start off the set, and another later to take a 24-19 lead.
 
The Lady Demons regained composure in the fourth and took off with a 14-10 lead until the Golden Eagles evened the score at 17.  Both teams traded points until the tie at 21-all when NSU knocked down four straight to send the game into the fifth set.
 
Once again, both teams exchanged points until coming to a tie, this time at four each. The Lady Demons then went on a three and four-point run to put ORU at an arm's length and maintain a steady lead until the 15-10 final.
 
"Our ability to keep our composure when we're not playing our best has been impressive recently," said Hernesman. "Then to stay steady and focused in the fifth shows a great deal of maturity. We're very proud of them."
 
Elrod knocked down 17 kills and 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Stacey DiFrancesco followed just behind with 14 kills and eight digs. The Woodlands, Texas, native also put up three blocks on the day.
 
Jaeger recorded her first double-double and a season-high 26 assists while digging up 10 ORU attacks. Johnson dished out 27 assists and a career-high 19 digs to lend aid on both sides of the ball.
 
Libero Keelie Arneson registered 22 digs as Glynna Johnson put up a team-high four blocks.
 
"We had a lot of individual high kill numbers, but felt that the role Vanessa Coleman had in the fourth set was most important," said Hernesman. "She had a huge block right around 17-18 to get us even and killed three balls late in the set to get us crucial points and loosen up the block for our outsides."
 
Coleman knocked down eight kills and put up three blocks on the day.
 
"There were great defensive efforts in holding a great offensive team well below their season average. I think they're over .260 in hitting percentage for the year and we held them to .190. I can't say we expected to come in and outhit them at .200."

Sara Pope and Luara Rosa led for the Golden Eagles with 19 and 15 kills, respectively. Setter Laura Taylor put out 56 assists while libero Bruna Silva dug up 31 Lady Demon attacks.
 
NSU returns home on Thursday to host McNeese State at seven o'clock and Nicholls State on Saturday at 2:00, both in Prather Coliseum.