BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The Northwestern State volleyball team found a connection Friday morning it searched for throughout the first five matches of the 2016 season.
As well as the Lady Demons played in their first match, however, its second presented a tougher challenge and a less-than-desired result.
When setter
Natalie Jaeger began to click with middle blockers
Madeline Drake and
Kourtney Seaton, it launched the Lady Demons to their third straight victory, a 3-1 (26-24, 14-25, 25-21, 25-17) triumph against Southeast Missouri State in the opener of the UAB Blazer Classic.
"We put a lot of things together," second-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "We were really smart. We saw our matchups and thought about it and were consistent. That was our most complete match of the year so far."
Drake turned in a career-best outing, knocking down 13 kills in an error-free 18 attempts, collecting a .722 hitting percentage that ranks seventh in program history for a single match.
Along with Drake, Seaton delivered a season-high seven kills, hitting .312 in the process. As a team, Northwestern State turned in its best hitting percentage of the season, doing so at a .213 clip in 160 total attempts.
"We needed the middles to score for us this match," Kiracofe said. "Their right side and middles were blocking well against our outsides. It's something we talked about. They worked extremely hard for the entire match, and (setter) Natalie (Jaeger) did a good job of giving them a ball they needed. If Madeline and Kourtney don't give us the games they did, we wouldn't have been in position to win in four."
With Drake and Seaton clicking, the outside opened for freshman
Alexis Warren, who turned in an efficient all-around match. In addition to tying her career high with 18 kills, Warren added 19 digs, four total blocks, two assists and a service ace.
Channing Burleson continued the theme of setting season and career highs, notching 30 digs, the most by a Lady Demon since Keelie Arneson posted 39 digs at McNeese on Sept. 25, 2014.
Even with the statistical bests posted up and down the lineup, NSU needed to rely on what has been its strength to beat the Redhawks (1-3).
The Lady Demons rallied to take the first set in extra points, getting a block from
Abby Gardea and Seaton before Southeast Missouri State cruised to a win in the second set. Drawing on the experience from comeback wins against UL Lafayette and UL Monroe on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, Northwestern State responded with two strong sets to extend its winning streak to three matches.
"The funny thing is I went into the match saying out of the last few matches, this is the one where you're 'allowed' to lose the first set," Kiracofe said. "It's been a long week, and it was an early match, so it may take a while to get into it. They surprised me with a great comeback in the first set, which is another thing you can scratch off your list of what you want to do early in the season.
"We had a different matchup in set two we had to figure out. It took us too long, but we got back into the matchups in three and four. Everyone was good, knowing how to score and how we wanted to defend certain attackers in certain situations. They focused, retained the information and played really well."
In the nightcap, the Lady Demons (3-4) dropped a tight first set and were unable to complete a third-set comeback, falling to Samford 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21).
Drake had the best offensive night in the second match, delivering nine kills and hitting .429. Northwestern State, however, could not find the offensive momentum forward from the morning.
As a team, NSU hit .073 against the Bulldogs, who saw Erin Bognar deliver a double-double of 15 kills and 17 digs, both of which were match highs.
Warren led three Lady Demons with double-figure digs, collecting 14. Burleson added 12, giving her 42 in seven sets Friday.
Megan Lohmiller added 10 digs along the backline.
The Lady Demons return to action Saturday with a 10 a.m. match against UAB and a 2:30 p.m. match with Tennessee Tech on Saturday.
