BEAUMONT, Texas – The Northwestern State volleyball team owns three victories when trailing after the first set in the 2016 season.
 
The Lady Demons added another notch in the comeback column Saturday, overcoming a two-sets-to-one deficit to grab a 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-9) victory against Lamar at McDonald Gym.
 
Northwestern State's second five-set victory of the season improved it to 10-12 overall and 5-2 in Southland Conference play with four of its conference wins coming away from Natchitoches.
 
"Obviously, your back is against the wall when you're down 2-1," said second-year coach Sean Kiracofe, who improved to 2-0 against Lamar. "I felt and I believed the team felt when we were playing consistently, we had good matchups, and we would be able to go five and win the match as long as we took care of the ball and were smart when we needed to be."
 
Freshman Alexis Warren tied a season high with 18 kills, equaling the mark for the fourth time. Warren saved her most efficient and effective moments for the fourth set.
 
With NSU trailing by a set, Warren delivered seven kills on 16 attacks, a .312 hitting percentage.
 
The Lady Demons outhit the Cardinals (3-14, 3-2) in the set, .154-.056.
 
"Lamar offers some really difficult matchups," Kiracofe said. "They have a big right side, two big middles and, in one rotation, (Chelsea) Grant on the right also. That's a lot for the outsides to deal with. The three rotations where we got the setter, the outsides needed to take advantage of that and (Warren) did. When she faced a bigger block, she was really smart. She tooled some and was really smart while still being aggressive in the fourth set."
 
As the match extended, Northwestern State's defense tightened up as well. Lamar hit .397 in capturing sets two and three. In the final two sets, the Lady Demons limited Lamar to an .078 hitting percentage.
 
NSU recorded six of its nine blocks in the final two sets, including the clinching stuff by sophomores Madeline Drake and Abby Gardea, who combined to shut down Amy Hollowell's final attack and give the Lady Demons their second five-set win of the season and their first SLC five-set triumph since knocking off Incarnate Word on Nov. 12, 2015.
 
In the fourth set, NSU slowed Lamar outside hitter Chelsea Grant (17 kills), limiting her to a -.154 hitting percentage and just two kills. Grant was instrumental in bringing the Cardinals back in sets two and three, delivering a combined 10 kills and committing just two errors.
 
"(Murielle Hlavac, 16 kills) was having a great match against us," Kiracofe said. "We could not figure out how to defend her at the net with the block. We started getting more consistent and made some gradual changes. That turned out to benefit us in the final two sets."
 
In addition to tying her season high for kills, Warren was one of four NSU players to collect double-figure digs. Channing Burleson led the way with 15 while Megan Lohmiller chipped in 14 and Warren and Kylie Spencer each had 11. Warren's dig total was good for her third straight double-double and 10^th of the season.
 
Offensively, Lauren Agan delivered 11 kills and Kourtney Seaton chipped in with nine, adding a match-high five block assists.
 
Northwestern State returns home for two matches this week, hosting New Orleans at 7 p.m. Thursday and Southeastern Louisiana at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Six of NSU's final nine conference matches are at Prather Coliseum.