NATCHITOCHES – If the Northwestern State volleyball team was going to stop Sam Houston State's unbeaten run through the Southland Conference, it was going to have to earn it.
 
The Lady Demons did just that Thursday night.
 
Powered by a career-best offensive night from Madeline Drake and another strong performance from Reagan Rogers, Northwestern State outlasted the visiting Bearkats, 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 25-20, 32-30), at Prather Coliseum.
 
The Lady Demons (13-13, 8-3 Southland) shook off a slow start to capture their seventh win in eight matches.
 
"That's definitely earning it," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "They've been in five-set matches in conference, and they've won all of those, so we didn't want to go to five sets. So why not put our (defensive specialists) up front and see what happens, and we win in four."
 
For the second straight home match, Northwestern State started slowly. Unlike the Oct. 17 match against Houston Baptist, the Lady Demons were able to overcome an early deficit.
 
NSU posted a negative hitting percentage (-.085) in the first set as Sam Houston State (13-10, 9-1) picked up an easy win.
 
Rogers, the Lady Demons' offensive leader, did not have a kill in the opening set and Drake, who eventually set a career high, had just two.
 
From the second set forward, Northwestern State looked the part of a team that swept its first three home matches of the season.
 
Rogers delivered all 21 of her kills in the final three sets, starting with an eight-kill performance in the second stanza.
 
"We came out with a lot of fight, energy and passion," said Rogers, who tied Jordyn Vaughn for match-high honors in kills. "That worked for us. I knew their defense was really good, and they were going to dig a lot of my balls. I wasn't worried about getting a lot of kills, but I wanted to place the ball and get them out of system so somebody else could get the kill."
 
Rogers had a momentum-turning kill late in the second set that pushed NSU's lead to 24-22 before a Brooke White attack error evened the match at one.
 
In the third set, it was Drake's turn to assume her role of closer.
 
NSU's junior middle blocker started a set-clinching 4-0 run with a kill and teamed with Hannah Brister on a block that moved the Lady Demons to the edge of a 2-1 advantage.
 
Drake established a career high with 16 kills, doing so in her typically efficient way, hitting a team-leading .367 on the night. She added a pair of block assists to her team-leading total and served up two of NSU's seven aces, finishing with 18 points.
 
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Throughout the match, both defenses kept rallies alive thanks to strong play by each backline.
 
NSU's Channing Burleson tied her career high with 32 digs while teammate Megan Lohmiller added 18. Setter Kathryn Wristen chipped in 15 digs as part of a double-double that included 54 assists, Wristen's career high for a four-set match.
 
Sam Houston appeared poised to push the match to a decisive fifth set, taking a trio of four-point leads in the fourth set, including a 16-12 advantage after a combo block by Taylor Cunningham and White.
 
The Lady Demons answered that with an 8-2 run, spurred by three Rogers kills and an ace from Kylie Spencer.
 
Trailing 23-21, NSU took its second timeout of the set and responded with kills from Drake and Brister that tied the set and put in motion a 16-point run where neither team could take full advantage until Drake killed an overpass and then took a Wristen set and delivered the clinching kill.
 
"I was exhausted the whole play, but we did not want to go a fifth set," Drake said. "I had Kylie and Meg, two DSs (defensive specialists), up front with me. I had to be up and be available to get the ball. I worked my butt off to end the set and get the W."
 
The victory not only pushed the Lady Demons to the .500 mark overall it also surpassed their win total from 2016. The eight conference victories also are one more than NSU collected a season ago.
 
"We strive to get better every day in practice and compete in every game," Burleson said. "I think we've done that since the beginning of the season, and we've really progressed as a team."
 
The Lady Demons continue a three-match Southland Conference homestand Saturday when they host Abilene Christian. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at Prather Coliseum.