CONWAY, Arkansas – The Northwestern State volleyball team struggled on the road Saturday, suffering a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) sweep to Southland Conference opponent Central Arkansas.
The Lady Demons (6-12, 1-2 Southland) will have another opportunity to best UCA (14-2, 3-1) when the Sugar Bears visit Natchitoches on Oct. 31.
"The good thing is that we get to see UCA again later in the year," third-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "Last year when we played in Conway the roles were reversed, and we cruised to a three-set win. UCA then came to Prather and we had a long, five-set match. Now we get a chance to win at home to even things up."
UCA went to the Southland's fourth-leading attacker in kills per set, Haley Tippet, early and often in Saturday's match. She finished with a match-high 19 kills while hitting .342.
Libero
Channing Burleson took another step towards the next spotin the Lady Demons all-time career record book for digs with a team-high 13 against UCA. She now needs just nine digs to take fifth place in the all-time books.
Freshman
Hannah Brister led the Lady Demons in attacking once again, knocking downeight kills. Her 35 attacks were a personal season-high in three-set matches.
Middle blocker
Madeline Drake was the Lady Demons' most efficient attacker on the afternoon, finishing with five kills and a .444 hitting percentage.
Overall, UCA made life difficult for the NSU offense at the net, blocking 11 shots and digging 48 of 101 total attacks.
"There were things in the scout that played out the way we thought they would, but we didn't transition them into points similar to the SFA match," Kiracofe said. "Capitalizing on those situations will make a big difference. And then passing in serve receive wasn't there today. That's always a consistent part of our game, so when we are passing better the next time we see UCA that will change their defensive and blocking numbers."
The Lady Demons aim to get back into the win column next week with a match against Incarnate Word on Thursday and a Saturday match against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi. Thursday's match against UIW will be NSU's conference home opener.
