NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team, led by senior Stacey DiFrancesco's eight kills, three service aces and 15 digs, ended Central Arkansas' 38-match Southland Conference win streak by sweeping the Sugar Bears (25-15, 25-23, 25-22) in front of a raucous crowd of 652 at Prather Coliseum on Thursday night.

"It's a big win probably because we beat the premier team in this conference over the last five or six years," fifth-year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman said. "Anytime you can play like that against such a good team, you've got to be excited. I felt like we executed what we needed to defensively and had a good scouting report."

In the win, NSU (11-14, 8-4 SLC) posted its second-highest attack percentage (.263) of the conference slate while holding UCA to its second lowest hitting percentage (.108) of the season only behind Florida State's .077 defensive shutdown of the Sugar Bears (15-8, 10-1 SLC) on Sept. 13.

"I don't think they were as sharp as they normally are but I think we served it really well," Hernesman said. "That kept them off kilter a little bit and I think blocking those balls were critical. We scored some balls down on the block and we stuffed them early.

"We were just balanced today. The attempts were spread all around. We were efficient from every spot and I think that becomes difficult for anybody to defend. I think our setters did a really good job. When you can control first and second contact like we did tonight, your offense should be clicking really well."

Up front, the Lady Demons out blocked their visitors, 14 to four highlighted by three total blocks each from junior Glynna Johnson and senior Vanessa Coleman. Elsewhere defensively, sophomore Bailey Martin finished with 16 digs, 11 coming in a tenacious first set that saw NSU hold UCA to a .000 hitting percentage.

The conference loss was UCA's first in just over two years. For NSU, it was the second time this season the squad ended a notable win streak with the other also coming in a sweep as the Lady Demons downed No. 15 Missouri halting the Tigers' 35-match regular season win streak. Four years ago, NSU ended Central Arkansas' 31-match home win streak in four sets.

"We're always going to have a big rivalry with UCA," DiFrancesco said. "I wanted to win so bad. Last time we played, we lost to them in the (Southland Conference Tournament) championship game by three points. It's always been great games when we've played them. I'm so excited and proud of our team."

For Hernesman and his staff, DiFrancesco has been a talented athlete and leader for the program.

"She's the heart and soul of our team," fifth-year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman said of DiFrancesco. "She really drives this team. She plays hurt. She defended real well and passed real well. Her serve has the potential to take over a match and pull teams out of system."

Other NSU notables in the match included seven kills each from senior Mackenzie Neely, redshirt junior Caiti O'Connell and junior Glynna Johnson. Sophomore Natalie Jaeger added 17 assists while senior Emily Johnson posted 15.

The Lady Demons return to action on Tuesday night as they take on Sam Houston State in Huntsville with first serve slated for 6:30 p.m. NSU will hope for another large crowd when it returns to Prather Coliseum next Friday for its final home regular season match of the season against Stephen F. Austin.

"We all love playing in front of big crowds," DiFrancesco said. "We love the energy from them. Tonight, they were on their feet cheering and we just feed off their momentum in big games."