NATCHITOCHES – Same script, different result.
 
When Northwestern State traveled to San Antonio last month to face Incarnate Word, the home team nearly blew a two-set lead before escaping with a five-set win.
 
It happened again Thursday night when UIW came to Prather Coliseum.
 
Northwestern State came out firing efficiently on offense to take the first two sets before the Cardinals responded to tie the match. Much like the first meeting between the teams, the home team responded in the decisive set, allowing NSU to capture a 3-2 Southland Conference victory.
 
"We got a little tense with their comeback," first-year coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We settled down and got back to what we were doing. Our matchups were good. If we were passing well, we were going to score. That showed in the first two sets. (In the fifth set) we got back to that."
 
Behind fast starts from freshman Reagan Rogers and senior Caiti O'Connell, NSU (7-21, 5-10 Southland) bolted out to a 2-0 lead with a 25-23 first-set win and a 25-20 second-set triumph.
 
Rogers delivered kills on her first nine swings en route to setting a career high with 16 kills. Rogers hit .538 on the match and was one of three NSU players with at least 13 kills.
 
She chipped in six digs and three total blocks (two solo).
 
"I was really nervous, but once I got into it, I gained confidence," Rogers said. "I was just playing for my team. Our seniors had just two games left. I wanted to leave it all on the court for them."
 
Northwestern State totaled 16 blocks, a season high, led by seven solo blocks. Buoyed by a big block and the fast offensive start, NSU outhit UIW .304-.215, committing 12 fewer attack errors than the Cardinals.
 
"We've been working on that a lot, and we've really improved," Kiracofe said. "We put a lot of work into it, and I think it's showing."
 
UIW (7-17, 5-10) began to find some holes in the NSU defense in the third and fourth sets, picking up a 25-22 win in the third set and riding a .310 hitting percentage to a 25-20 win in the fourth set.
 
Tied at 12 in a back-and-forth final set, Northwestern State emerged thanks to an O'Connell kill, a tandem block by O'Connell and fellow senior Amanda Kunz and one final UIW attack error to grab the 15-12 victory and snap a three-match losing streak.
O'Connell finished with a season-high 18 kills, delivering them with a .357 hitting percentage in her penultimate home match.
 
"We were just trying to squeeze out every last set we can," O'Connell said jokingly. "We kind of hit a lull in sets three and four. We joked that we wanted to squeeze out a couple more sets for the seniors, but they came out aggressively. I was really connecting well with (setter) Nat (Jaeger). She was putting up sets in great spots where I had plenty of room to swing and plenty of room to hit them, and it worked pretty well."
 
Northwestern State wraps up the season at 2 p.m. Saturday against Abilene Christian. It will be the final match for O'Connell, Kunz and Glynna Johnson as Northwestern State has been eliminated from Southland Conference Tournament contention.
 
"We joked after that the seniors wanted to hold onto the season a little bit longer, and I'm OK with that as long as we win," Kiracofe said. "We can go five on Saturday as long as we win."