NEW ORLEANS – For the second straight match, Northwestern State set a season high in hitting percentage.
 
For the second straight match, Northwestern State came away victorious. NSU responded after dropping a tight first set to capture the next three and take a 3-1 Southland Conference victory against New Orleans here Thursday night.
 
At the center of NSU's offensive efficiency (.364 hitting percentage) was a vintage performance by senior Caiti O'Connell, whose season-best night led her to a career milestone.

"We're getting production from a lot of people across the net," first-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "That makes it easier for everyone else to start scoring when the defense adjusts their way. People are taking advantage of their opportunities and doing a great job."
 
O'Connell tied NSU's season high with 16 kills and became the seventh Northwestern State player to cross the 1,000-kill plateau in a career.
 
The milestone kill came in the third set and ignited a 7-0 Northwestern State run that gave NSU (5-17, 3-6) control of the pivotal set.
 
"The last two matches, she's had great matchups and, to her credit, she's taken complete advantage of those," Kiracofe said. "When they've adjusted their defense to stop her, either Glynna (Johnson) or Amanda (Kunz) have been able to make the defense pay for that. Then we can go back to Caiti, and she can start scoring again. It says a lot about Caiti's ability to score at the net with that consistency throughout her career to get 1,000. That's impressive."

O'Connell had plenty of help from fellow outside hitter Lauren Agan.
 
Agan crushed 15 kills against just two errors, hitting a robust .371 on 35 total attempts. Agan also chipped in from the service line, collecting three of Northwestern State's eight aces.
 
Bailey Martin contributed four aces to set a career high in that category.
 
"Serving was on tonight," Kiracofe said. "It started out slow but progressively picked up through the match. Lauren was amazing. Everything she did was getting a kill. She had a great night."

After New Orleans (11-10, 2-4) took the first set 25-23, Northwestern State played much better defense in the final three sets.
 
UNO's hitting percentage declined in each successive set, culminating in an .030 mark in the final set. NSU put up 11 total blocks as it claimed the final three sets, 25-18, 25-17 and 25-16.
 
Johnson led the NSU block, tallying six total blocks (three solo, three assists) while Kunz chipped in five total blocks along with nine kills.
 
Martin led the back row with 14 digs while Channing Burleson contributed a balanced match of eight kills and nine digs.
 
After NSU used a 7-0 run to take control of the third set, it turned to a defensive-fueled surge in the fourth set to make the difference.
 
Three straight blocks sparked a 9-1 rally that turned a three-point deficit into a 16-11 lead. After UNO cut the lead to 18-14, NSU responded with a 7-2 blitz to end the set and capture its first road win and first back-to-back victories of the season.

"Toward the end of the third set and the fourth set, New Orleans was scoring on us," Kiracofe said. "They adjusted and were really disciplined with their block and it paid off. They really started things off for us."
 
Northwestern State will try to extend its winning streak to three games when it makes a short trip to Hammond on Saturday to face Southeastern Louisiana. First serve is set for 2 p.m.