NATCHITOCHES – With arguably its best all-around performance of the season, the Northwestern State volleyball team evened its Southland Conference record with a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-21, 25-21) of Incarnate Word on Thursday night.
The Lady Demons (7-12, 2-2 Southland) rode the hot hand of outside hitter
Reagan Rogers as she finished with her fifth double-double of the season with 13 digs and a match-high 16 kills. Rogers now has a team-high 195 kills this season.
"It was our first conference game at home, so we really wanted to come out and give our fans a great game," Rogers said. "I think we did a really good job with that."
The Lady Demons quickly took a 1-0 lead over UIW (3-10, 2-2), building a 9-3 advantage early in the opening set before putting away the set with a 5-1 run with the score at 20-14. Rogers recorded six kills and no errors in the set to set the pace for NSU.
The Cardinals kept the second and third sets closer, but in both the Lady Demons closed with timely runs and final kills from setter
Kathryn Wristen to secure the match.
In the second set, UIW was down one at 17-16, but NSU rallied with an 8-5 run to lock in the 2-0 lead. Wristen stopped an attempt at a late Cardinals comeback in the set by sneaking an attack over the net to lock in the second set.
The Cardinals hung around for the majority of the final set, but a 6-3 run from the Lady Demons with the 19-18 score advantage put away the match. Wristen recorded the final kill of the night with an attack on another would-be set.
The Lady Demons had an effective night hitting the ball, connecting with 39 kills and a .200 hitting percentage. Wristen had the most efficient night attacking the ball, sneaking in five of nine attacks for a .556 hitting percentage.
"We knew going into it Incarnate Word was going to be a good blocking team," Kiracofe said. "They put up a big block across the net no matter what. You don't really have the advantage over a setter in a 5-1 situation that you would normally think you would have against them.
"I was really happy with the way that we were producing, specifically with
Reagan Rogers. She had a great night out there and did that a lot of the time with four hands in front of her and a closed block taking away a lot of the net. I was really happy with the way that turned out."
Defensively, the Lady Demons forced UIW into tough hitting angles all match. NSU held UIW to a .048 hitting percentage while collecting eight blocks.
Middle blocker
Madeline Drake has been key to the defensive front line all season, and she remained involved against UIW with a team-high six total blocks. Drake collected the team's lone solo block on the night.
Coming into the match,
Channing Burleson needed 13 digs to take over fifth all-time in the NSU career record books. It took until the final set for the junior libero to reach the defensive milestone, but with a 10-dig final set, she secured the fifth position with 1,111 career digs.
Burleson credited her match-high 19 digs to the strong presence of the front line.
"It's definitely easier when the block is consistent, because then it helps you set up," Burleson said. "They did a great job tonight, and they made things easier for us."
The Lady Demons will remain home for their first weekend home match of the season on Saturday when Texas A&M – Corpus Christi visits.
"Just normal stuff – some film and a walkthrough," Kiracofe said in regards to team activities before facing the Islanders on Saturday. "We'll hopefully take it easy tomorrow so that we're fresh for 1 o'clock on Saturday, and we'll be ready to go."
