Box Score NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Northwestern State volleyball team rounded out the 2013 Southland Conference regular season with a 3-1 (26-28, 25-22, 25-17, 25-16) win over league rival Stephen F. Austin Saturday afternoon and secured a No. 2 seed heading into next weekend's Southland Conference Tournament hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas.
 
Sam Houston State (17-10 overall, 14-4 SLC) dropped a 3-0 decision to the Islanders earlier on Saturday, allowing the Lady Demons (19-11, 15-3) to put a stamp on second place, their highest regular season finish and tournament seeding in program history, and three spots ahead of the preseason poll predictions.
 
SFA drops to 16-15, 8-10 and will hold either the No. 7 or No. 8 seed depending on the outcome of the McNeese State vs. Nicholls State match Saturday evening at 7:00.
 
"We're very happy with our consistency today. It carried over from Tuesday's match and I'm hopeful that we're at the mental focus and physical effort level that we need to be," said fourth year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. "It's a lot of work to get there and this team is learning how to make that happen for themselves."
 
The Ladyjacks jumped out to a 10-7 lead in set one before the game tied seven more times, the final evening point at 26-all. SFA's Jill Ivy dropped a quick point and forced an attack error from the Lady Demons to secure their only game winner of the day.
 
NSU battled back in set two to even the score at one heading into the break as it took a 25-22 victory. SFA posed a threat early in the game with a steady battle between both teams before the Lady Demons pulled away with a three-point run and took a 23-19 lead. The Ladyjacks were able to put a few more notches on the board, but not enough as NSU came out with the win.
 
Coming out of the break, the Lady Demons got off to a quick 9-4 start and allowed SFA to knock down three in a row to come within one, but NSU answered back with a six-point run and maintained total control from there.
 
The script was similar in the final set as Northwestern State jumped out to a lead once again, this time holding the Ladyjacks at an arm's length with a match-high 18-7 mark. The Lady Demons chipped away at the board until the win, holding SFA to scoring just nine more points on the day.
 
"We played very good situational and out-of-system volleyball, and that was real crucial for us," said Hernesman. "I felt as though our service game picked up a little steam in the third and fourth sets, which allowed us to put a few good runs on them."
 
Libero Keelie Arneson posted a career-high 42 digs to lead the NSU defense, crushing her previous mark of 35 last season against Southeastern on Oct. 11. The Tomball, Texas, native finishes the regular season holding the top three spots in the NSU season digs ledger, beating her mark of 618 digs last season to stand with 634 after today's match. Arneson leads the Southland, posting a 5.56 digs per set average, and sits in the top-20 in the nation.
 
The defense did not stop there as Glynna Johnson recorded her third eight-block performance in a row. The 6'3 middle blocker also knocked down eight kills on the day.
 
Veteran Stacey DiFrancesco led the offense with 15 kills and 17 digs, noting her seventh double-double of the season. Freshman Ashley Elrod just missed double-double marks with nine kills and a season-high 21 digs. 
 
Caiti O'Connell and Mackenzie Neely were also commanding forces from the pins with 14 and 12 kills, respectively.
 
Setters Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger notched double-double notes as well, combining for 51 assists and 27 digs total. DiFrancesco and E. Johnson slapped the only two service aces of the day for the team.
 
"A lot of great individual standout efforts today. Stacey and Caiti were on fire most of the match, Mackenzie had a bunch of clutch kills and Keelie was all over the place and is in a zone right now," said Hernesman. "Glynna was in shut down mode as a blocker, so it was just a great team effort."
 
The Lady Demons will kick-off Southland Conference Tournament play on Friday at 11:00 against the No. 7 seed, which will either be McNeese or SFA. If McNeese defeats Nicholls, they will be the seventh seed, but if they fall, the Ladyjacks will gain the No. 7 position and the Cowgirls with take the No. 8 spot.