NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team wanted to leave a lasting impression before beginning a month-long road trip later this week.
 
Consider that accomplished.
 
Playing one of its most complete matches of the season, NSU spread out the offense and played stingy defense Tuesday night, leading to a 3-0 sweep of rival Stephen F. Austin at Prather Coliseum on Orange Out night.
 
"You have a couple of players start scoring early then the block has to focus on them, and that's happened all year," first-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We moved the ball around, and they were scoring just as well. Your block doesn't know what to do. Your defense can't line up. It makes it easier for everyone as you go."
 
Northwestern State (4-17, 2-6 Southland) started fast and kept up its intensity en route to its first sweep of the Ladyjacks (13-10, 5-2) since Nov. 2, 2012. NSU grabbed a 25-18 first-set win, rolled 25-14 in the second and turned back a late SFA rally for a match-clinching 25-19 win.
 
A consistent, varied offense led to a season-best .330 hitting percentage for Northwestern State, which saw five players tally double-figure attacks, helping Natalie Jaeger collect a season-best 40 assists.
 
Three NSU players reached double figures in kills – Lauren Agan (12), Amanda Kunz (10) and Caiti O'Connell (10). O'Connell and Glynna Johnson (eight kills) each played error-free offense, combining to hit .529 on 34 attacks.
 
"We were all aggressive the whole time," Agan said. "If we made an error, we kept swinging really hard. We got great sets from our setter and had great defense and serve receive, which helped a lot."
 
The sweep ended a five-match losing streak for Northwestern State and gave it a second straight victory against Stephen F. Austin.
 
NSU took a 3-1 victory at Prather Coliseum in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals last year, upending the No. 1-seeded Ladyjacks.
 
"I always get this way against SFA because they've been such a big rival," Johnson said. "We're both good teams and we battle it out. It's always fun to play good against them."
 
O'Connell delivered 10 kills in 16 attacks, working in tandem off Johnson's ability to power home kills from the middle.
 
With the 10 kills, O'Connell upped her career total to 987 as she seeks to become the seventh member of the 1,000-kill club at NSU.
 
"She did great," Kiracofe said. "She had a great matchup. Glynna, to her credit, was scoring well early to open things up for Caiti. During one of the timeouts, I told Glynna she needed to thank Caiti for one of her really big kills, because the way Caiti was scoring, it opened up some splits for Glynna and she took advantage of it. The same thing can be said for Caiti."


Putting the NSU offense in motion was Jaeger, who has emerged as NSU's primary setter the last couple of matches.
 
Her 40 assists surpassed her season high of 29 against UL Lafayette, which came in a five-set match and marked a career high for the Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, product.
 
"Everything tonight was clicking perfectly," Jaeger said. "Our back row was giving me fantastic balls to work with both in transition and in serve receive, which gave me the opportunity to spread out our offense and run all of our hitters. Our hitters were producing at a great rate, which helped keep SFA on their toes."
 
Northwestern State begins a six-match, four-week road trip Thursday at 7 p.m. at New Orleans. NSU completes its weekend swing at Southeastern Louisiana at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
NSU will take with it some momentum after the victory against the Ladyjacks.
 
"Getting this match was very important to us," Jaeger said. "We came in with confidence and anticipation because we love playing SFA. We talk about protecting Prather, and getting this win at home really helped us out."