NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team put up its biggest block of the season in Thursday night's Southland Conference opener against Incarnate Word.
 
It was a dig, however, that sparked a match-clinching run as the Lady Demons opened conference play with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17) victory against the visiting Cardinals inside Prather Coliseum.
 
Reigning Southland Conference Libero of the Year Channing Burleson's pancake dig proved to be the ignition for a 9-3 run that allowed Northwestern State (5-6, 1-0) to pull away from UIW (2-9, 0-1) in the clinching set.
 
"She did really well," fourth-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "Their outsides were hitting some ridiculous angles, so we had Channing out of position from what we would normally play. She picked up on that really well. We needed some sort of big play to go our way, and she was there to provide that."
 
Thanks to a season-high 13 blocks, the Lady Demons made the most of their only home match in a 37-day stretch.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Brooke Wood led the way defensively, tying a school record with 10 block assists. Wood was one of three Lady Demons who either set or tied a career high in that category as Cayman Sutton (6) established a career high while Alexis Warren matched hers with four block assists.
 
Wood's total equaled that of Shannon Puder against Sam Houston State on Oct. 24, 2003, and marked the first double-figure match by a Lady Demon in her home arena.
 
"A lot of times, I think you lose matches because of your defense, especially if you're down or if it becomes a close match," said Wood, who entered the match leading the Southland Conference in blocks per set. "It's important that we work together, execute blocks, execute digs. We've worked really hard on our defense, and you can see it's working."
 
It seemed the Lady Demons were able to carry the momentum from Saturday's performance against Texas A&M into the early going as Reagan Rogers served up an 7-0 run that included three aces in the first set.
 
After trailing 8-1, UIW recovered and pulled within two points on six different occasions and cut the lead to 23-22 before Rogers and Hannah Brister (10 kills) knocked down back-to-back kills to clinch the set.
 
Northwestern State maintained a six-to-seven-point advantage throughout most of the second set with Brister again clinching the set on a feed from Sutton (43 assists) before the Cardinals built on a fast third-set start to extend the match to a fourth set.
 
Neither team gained much traction in the final set until NSU began an 11-3 run that turned a three-point deficit at 10-7 into a five-point lead at 18-13. Included in the run was Burleson's momentum-shifting dig and a balanced offense that saw five different players record kills.
 
The victory snapped NSU's four-match losing streak an gave it an 8-3 mark in its past 11 home matches.
 
"We did our team goals last night, and one goal was to protect Prather," said senior middle blocker Madeline Drake, who knocked down a team-leading 13 kills and hit .524. "We all made a decision we weren't going to lose this match. Channing did a great job of getting that ball up and getting us going."
 
Northwestern State returns to action Tuesday night when it travels to Nacogdoches, Texas, to face rival Stephen F. Austin. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. in a match that will air on ESPN Plus.