NATCHITOCHES – Revenge is a dish best served cold. Inside a chilly Prather Coliseum on Saturday afternoon, Northwestern State volleyball served up their second helping of the week.
 
The Lady Demons (15-7, 7-1 SLC) extended their season-long winning streak to seven with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 23-25, 25-19) victory against McNeese (8-12, 1-7 SLC), avenging a Cowgirl sweep from the 2018 season.
 
"I think it makes a big statement about how different we are this year," senior middle Kourtney Seaton said. "We had motivation to go out there and show what we're made of and how we like to play."
 
As has been the case during the recent stretch of winning play, the Lady Demons used the first set to get a feel for what McNeese was doing on the other side of the net. A close first was decided late on an NSU 4-1 run that included a pair of kills from Reagan Lee and ended with a McNeese attack error.
 
The second set was a much different story. Using their experience and knowledge on the floor, the Lady Demons had little trouble seizing a 2-0 match lead. 
 
An early 6-0 run on the serve of Hannah Brister put NSU in the driver's seat. Kills from Brister and Alexis Warren just minutes later engineered a 5-1 run and the Lady Demons held a 12-5 lead, with no stopping in sight. Another late 6-0 stretch cemented the set for the home team, punctuated on a kill from Seaton.
 
"Their (McNeese) look from a scout standpoint has changed throughout the season due to injuries and other things and was even a little different today," coach Sean Kiracofe said. "It just takes a little bit of time to figure out those differences. 
 
"I think when we were clicking and efficient on our side, you get what we saw in set two. There were other times we gave away too many unforced errors and free points, stopping our own runs. That made it a little bit harder on ourselves than it needed to be. But I'm proud of them, and when it mattered, once again, this team finds a way to win and put it away."
 
NSU dropped the third set, due to an uptick in errors, seven total in the third equaling the first two sets combined. The match appeared as if would be heading to five until a momentum-seizing kill from Darria Williams turned the match on its head.
 
Down by two, Williams put her best swing on the ball with an emphatic kill that sparked her teammates and the crow. The Lady Demons went on a 9-2 run from that point on, putting a stranglehold on the set. Four of the seven NSU kills during that stretch came off the right had of Seaton who continues to play at an extremely high level. 
 
"Kourtney's been solid and hitting at a really high rate," Kiracfoe said. "Early in the match we weren't able to get the middles involved as much as we wanted to, because we thought they could be pretty successful in this match. It was sporadic getting the ball to net at times, but she did something great with the ball every time she touched it."
 
The Lady Demons ended the math on a kill from Brister and perfectly placed ace from Cayman Sutton pushing their record to 7-1 in Southland Conference play.
 
Seaton, Brister and Warren each had double-digit kills with Brister and Warren each earning a kill-dig double-double. Sutton and Skylar Besch each had 20-assist matches for the second time this week and the fifth time this season.
 
The Lady Demons continue their three-match homestand next Thursday night hosting Abilene Christian to begin the second half of the SLC schedule.
 
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