Box Score SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Double-doubles from three players and four service aces from Mackenzie Neely allowed the Northwestern State volleyball team to defeat Southland Conference newcomer University of the Incarnate Word in a five-set (26-24, 25-22, 23-25, 25-11, 15-8) thriller Saturday afternoon at the McDermott Center.
 
With the win, the Lady Demons (16-10 overall, 12-2 SLC) take sole possession of second place league play, just behind 2012 SLC tournament champion and undefeated Southland leader, Central Arkansas. The loss for the Cardinals (11-11, 6-7) was their second in the last five games. 
 
"Momentum is a crazy thing in this sport and there are times that the wheels can, and will, fall off," said fourth year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. "They fell off in the fourth set for us. I thought Incarnate Word played a great match and fought hard to get that momentum back after the first two sets."
 
The entire match was tight, beginning early in the first set as NSU battled back from a 16-13 deficit to tie the game at 17 and 21 and pull out the eventual 26-24 victory.
The Lady Demons did not waste any time in set two, jumping out to a 10-4 lead and maintained a steady pace from there.
 
The Cardinals came out of the break ready to play and put the Lady Demons to the test with a 25-23 win in set three. The game consisted of five ties and lead changes, the final coming at 23-all before UIW's Angelique Viduarri knocked down her one-of-eleven kills of the day and Ashley Elrod committed an attack error.
 
There was no slowing down for the Cardinals in fourth as they took total control and took a 25-11 win, putting up a game-high six-point run to end the set.
 
Entering the fifth set frustrated, Northwestern State found themselves in a hole once again, trailing 3-0, forcing Hernesman to call a timeout. The Lady Demons regrouped and knocked down two to come within one, and then went on a four-point run to take a 6-4 lead. NSU kept the pressure on and went on another four-point spree to put the Cardinals at an arm's length and secure its third win in a row.
 
"The thing I'm most proud of is that we were able to eliminate sets three and four from our memory and focus on the task at hand," said Hernesman. "I flipped our lineup to give them a different look, and what I think happened was that it also gave us something different to focus on as well. The run we got late in the fifth set on Mackenzie's serve was crucial."
 
Elrod picked up her third double-double in a row, her 10^th overall with 16 kills and 17 digs on the day. Stacey DiFrancesco followed just behind with 10 kills and 16 digs.
 
Neely knocked down 14 kills and put up one block as setters Emily Johnson and Natalie Jaeger dished out 24 and 21 assists, respectively. Jaeger also dug up 11 attacks for her fourth double-double of the season.

Southland digs leader Keelie Arneson fended off 26 Cardinal attacks to remain at 5.25 digs per set and 18th in the nation. 
 
Vanessa Coleman led from the middle with eight kills and five total blocks. The Bloomington, Ill., native also assisted on seven attacks.
 
The Lady Demons remain on the road next week with matches at New Orleans on Thursday and Southeastern on Saturday before hosting UCA on Nov. 12 at 7:00 at Prather Coliseum for their final home game of the season.