NATCHITOCHES – If you were to use one word to describe Northwestern State volleyball's performance Tuesday night, it would be dominant.
 
The Lady Demons (12-7, 4-1 SLC) ran through Lamar (6-9, 1-4 SLC) in straight sets 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-16), picking up their fourth straight conference win, matching the best start to league play under head coach Sean Kiracofe.
 
"Everyone put up good stats and everyone was consistent," Kiracofe said. "That was the thing that we focused on going into this match and here in this stretch of the next few matches - that consistency. 
 
"We've been able to play at a really high level and we went five with UIW and four with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and that has a lot to do with what those teams did, but it also is about us sustaining that level of play and what we want to do. So, tonight was great."
 
The first set began with the teams trading points until a long service rotation for freshman Haley Hoang made the opening frame a runaway.
 
Kourtney Seaton, who finished the night with seven kills and a .778 hitting percentage, had three of her kills during the 8-0 run that gave the Lady Demons the commanding 21-12 lead. A late 3-0 run by Lamar fell well short of the mark as a service error gave NSU the opener 25-16.
 
The second set was all NSU from the outset.
 
A 7-2 start created plenty of space for the Lady Demons as they keep the foot on the gas pedal the rest of the way. Seemingly whatever the Lady Demons wanted to do in the second they did and it worked. NSU scored 13 kills on 26 swings, while benefiting from seven Lamar errors in route to a 25-8 set win.
 
Three straight kills from Hannah Brister, off the sets from Skylar Besch, in the third set further showcased the Lady Demons dominance in the match, going ahead 11-6 at that point.
 
Two more 3-0 runs later in the set left no doubt who the better team was on this night, with Brister capping the impressive win on her 16^thkill of the match.
 
"Last year, as talented as we were, there were times where, whether it was mentally or whatever, it was we weren't on top of our game," Kiracofe said. "That's something that we preached going into this year is that consistency and consistent fight and we've been able to do that so far."
 
The Lady Demons hit the road for another conference match Thursday night at Southeastern Louisiana.
 
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