NATCHITOCHES – Up a set, but down three points late in the second set to McNeese, a nine-point run with outside hitter Reagan Rogers at the serving line spurred the Northwestern State volleyball team on to its 10
th Southland Conference win of the season Saturday afternoon and locked up the fifth seed in next week' league tournament.
Prompted by Rogers' second-set run, NSU battled through a tight match, sweeping McNeese 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22).
By the time McNeese (19-12, 10-6) won serve back in the second set, the Lady Demons (15-16, 10-6) had built a 24-20 lead. Rogers put in three aces and forced two Cowgirl timeouts during the rally.
"I knew that I needed to go on a run in order to get us back in the game," Rogers said. "I was trying to be aggressive while keeping the ball in play. I think I did a good job of hitting it deep, making them back up, and then just dropping it short when they weren't ready."
McNeese attempted to come from behind again in the final set, bringing the score to a 22-21 Cowgirl deficit. Middle blocker Madeline Drake got a game-changing solo block to swing momentum back to the Lady Demons.
Rogers showed once again why she is a worthy candidate for SLC Player of the Year honors, leading the match with 17.5 points on a match-high 13 kills – eight coming in the first set. She also helped to protect the net with three block assists. With her double-digit kill performance against McNeese Rogers moved to fifth in Lady Demons single-season history with 410.
Drake, the Lady Demons' most efficient swinger this season, also contributed offensively with eight kills and a .333 hitting percentage.
"It's really good momentum to go into the tournament with a couple sweeps," Drake said. "We knew they (McNeese) were going to come out and try to stay consistent, and not make many errors.
"We were expecting a lot of tips. Our defense did a really good job of reading that, and picking it up. We've done great at home. We practice here. We play great here. We'll definitely try to take how we play here into the conference tournament."
The Lady Demons recorded their best Southland finish under third-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe, and matched the 2014 team's conference record. NSU ended the 2014 season with a two-match win streak before clinching the conference tournament championship.
Setter Kathryn Wristen recorded her ninth double-double of the season, setting NSU attackers 32 times while adding 11 digs. She also served well, leading to four aces and no errors. Her 11 digs were second on the team to the match leader Channing Burleson (17 digs).
"We work all the time on serving in practice," Wristen said. "That's one of our strengths. We try to make sure they (McNeese) stayed out of system, because they have a unique offense. We knew if they were out of system it would make it easier on us to defend."
The Lady Demons now enter preparation mode for the Southland Tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas. NSU will play Friday at 1:30 p.m. against Houston Baptist in the first round of action. If the Lady Demons win, they will return to the courts at noon Saturday against either top seed Stephen F. Austin or Abilene Christian. The championship match is scheduled for Sunday at 3:05 p.m.
"We have a box called 'flip the switch'," Rogers said when asked if they will take anything from Prather Coliseum to the tournament. "We're going to take that. We're going to take our pitchfork, and we're going to take all the energy from home that we have here to Corpus."
