Box Score RUSTON – Caiti O'Connell and Stacey DiFrancesco registered double-doubles to aid in a 3-2 (25-15, 25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 15-11) win for the Northwestern State volleyball team over non-conference rival Louisiana Tech Tuesday evening at the Thomas Assembly Center.
 
The victory marks the fifth in a row for the Lady Demons, improving their record to 6-8 overall as the Lady Techsters drop to 6-9 on the season.
 
"We were glad to get out of there with a win," said fourth year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman. "I'm impressed with how Louisiana Tech is improving, and to beat that team on the road with us missing two starters - I'm certainly going to not complain about that."
 
NSU dominated in sets one and two to take an early 2-0 lead heading into the break. Louisiana Tech battled back in set three with nine ties before a 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead en-route to a 25-22 set-win.
 
In set four, the Lady Techsters put up an early 7-0 run to take a 9-3 lead and slowly put NSU at an arm's length. Tech put up a final 6-0 run to end the set and tie the game.
 
The Lady Demons showed no mercy in the fifth set, steadily putting up numbers on the board and taking the set and match-win.
 
O'Connell knocked down 17 kills, 11 digs and six service aces while DiFrancesco matched her season-high 16 kills and 12 digs.
 
Once again, setter Emily Johnson put up a career high in assists, dishing out 48 on the night, followed by Mackenzie Neely knocking down season-highs with 14 kills and 28 attempts to lead the Lady Demons with a .357 attack percentage.
 
Keelie Arneson dug up 20 Louisiana Tech attacks to aid in the NSU defense.
 
"Our three outsides were great point scorers for us while our middles were efficient and able to help us to create some great looks for the outsides," said Hernesman. "The key to the 5th set was for us to get out to a fast start, and Caiti's serve was instrumental in that fast start."
 
The Lady Demons return to Southland Conference play on Saturday as they host league rival Stephen F. Austin at two o'clock at Prather Coliseum.