NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team accomplished something Saturday afternoon in Prather Coliseum that no Southland Conference team has done since 2014, sweeping defending league champion Texas A&M – Corpus Christi 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-19).

Early in the season, NSU struggled late in sets, but as the conference season unfolds, the Lady Demons (8-12, 3-2 Southland) have developed into a team that thrives in pressure situations to close sets in their favor.

"Corpus played great," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "Every single set they came back and made it tough, but that was to be expected – they're a good team. I'm most proud that we were able to stay composed and fight through those tough moments to get those big points.

"It's one thing if you run away and beat somebody big and have that cushion at the end, but we never really had that. They earned those wins."

The Islanders (8-10, 5-2) came into the week with a 37-match conference winning streak, but fell to Central Arkansas on Thursday.

NSU ensured a new streak didn't begin on its watch, thanks to a pair of outside hitters – Reagan Rogers (17) and Hannah Brister (10) -- producing double-digit kills and a strong team defensive effort that held the Islanders' primary hitter and Southland First-Team All-Conference selection Brittany Gilpin to an .027 hitting percentage.

Rogers' 17 kills went for a match-high as well.

"She's been great this year," Kiracofe said. "She came in and from day one said that 'I belong out there and I am the go-to attacker.' From a matchup standpoint, and the way that we had spread out the offense a little bit, she had some advantages early on. Then it got to the point where she had four hands in front of her and a closed block, and she still was finding ways to score points and that's a really big deal."

The Lady Demons jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the opening set thanks to a pair of aces from Rogers and a pair of kills from Brister. The NSU four-point run was the longest of a set that remained tight. With the set tied at 22, NSU went on a 3-1 run with kills from outside hitter Alexis Warren, middle blocker Kourtney Seaton and the clincher from Rogers.


"We really played together," Rogers said. "That's the potential we have every game. Everything worked in our favor today, and we jumped on that. From the beginning, we said we were going to compete for every point, and I think we did a good job of that – competing for every point."

The Lady Demons' defense excelled in the backcourt with three players, defensive specialist Megan Lohmiller (11), outside hitter Alexis Warren (12) and libero Channing Burleson (13), recording double-digit digs.

Burleson's 13 digs tied the Islanders' libero Madison Woods for a match-high.

"Channing was solid as usual, and all of our defense was," Kiracofe said. "We always talk about that, that one of our best parts of our game is our defense. Meg (Lohmiller) has made some amazing plays to keep plays alive. In set two, there was a rally that was just ridiculous and Meg was a huge part of allowing that to continue at multiple stages during the play. She really stepped up, and everyone played a role.

"Both Reagan and Lex (Warren) were really good in middle back – reading the situations and either taking some deep shot away in the corner or stepping in when they (Corpus) were going to get a split in the block. Everyone stepped up and they did their roles and they did them well."

Despite the end of the match resulting in a sweep, this was a highly competitive match. Each set was tied or within three points late in the set.

The second set exemplified the competitiveness of the match. Corpus Christi fought back from a 15-8 deficit to tie the set at 18. At a 24-23 NSU set point, the Islanders won a bizarre rally to extend the set. The Lady Demons quickly recovered and took a 2-0 lead with kills from Rogers and Brister.
"We put in the effort day in and day out in practice, and I think we stepped up throughout the week," Brister said. "We really brought a good effort. The difference was everyone was more energetic. Our serve-receive worked really well, and we executed off that."

In the final set, the Lady Demons built their largest lead of the afternoon at 20-14, and held on to clinch the sweep with a 25-19 finish.

"All year we've been saying that we step up to big moments," Kiracofe said. "In any gym that we've been in on the road so far that's had a big crowd -- we've always responded to that well. Any type of environment you can have at home like that, when Prather (Coliseum) gets rocking, it's always easier to play."

The Lady Demons will travel south for their next action, facing Nicholls on Thursday and McNeese on Saturday. Updates from both matches will be posted live on Twitter @NSUDemonsVB.