NATCHITOCHES – A balanced Texas A&M-Corpus Christi attack made life difficult for Northwestern State on Thursday night, resulting in the first opponent sweep at Prather Coliseum since 2016.
 
The Lady Demons (18-11, 10-5 SLC) matched the Islanders (18-10, 11-4 SLC) in every statistical category on the night, save for one, service errors. According to coach Sean Kiracofe however, that was not the reason the Lady Demons lost the match.
 
"I thought we served too easy," Kiracofe said. "We allowed them to run their middle which allowed them to run the fast-go to the outside and basically run the offense they wanted to run.
 
"Whenever we got them to lose just one option and get that setter on the move and break down a little bit of what they were doing, we went on runs, we looked good and we out played them. We got a little timid on the serve, which I did not like, and at times we didn't pass well because of their service."
 
A 4-0 run early in the opening set gave the Lady Demons some momentum and the lead. Darria Williams showed her versatility during the stretch with a kill and two block assists that put NSU ahead 11-8. The Islanders took the lead back for good with an immediate 5-1 run that put just enough distance between them and the home team.
 
A kill from Kourtney Season made it a 22-21 affair, but an NSU service error and two straight kills from Corpus' Rachel Young gave the set to the Islanders 25-21.
 
Down 17-9 in the second, the Lady Demons found a spark on the Haley Hoang serve rotation. Three kills, an ace and a Corpus error closed the gap quickly, making it just a three-point set at 17-14.
 
Corpus maintained its slim lead over the next several points, but the Lady Demons had plenty of fight in them to create tense moments in the final stages of the second.
 
Down 22-20, two Corpus errors and a kill from Hannah Brister put NSU on top, poised to even the match a one set each. A quick set and kill, one of the go-to attacks by the Islanders on the night, tied the match, followed by two NSU errors. As quickly as NSU had the lead, Corpus had the set and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
"When you add the element of them running that fast ball in the middle or to the pin, either against the flow or over the top of it, it's hard to defend," Kiracofe said. "I thought we did that well at times, but not enough. We lost in three and I can easily say that they controlled the match but at any moment we could have flipped that around and won sets one, two, or three."
 
The Lady Demons built a lead at 12-6 in the third set, once again on the service rotation of Hoang, and held it until a 7-1 run later in the set put Corpus on top 19-17. The set was tied at 20 just moments later, but a quick 3-0 swing, jump-started by an NSU error, propelled Corpus to the 25-21 third set win, completing the sweep.
 
The Lady Demons play their final home match of the season against Incarnate Word on Saturday at 11 a.m. Four seniors will be honored prior to the match with the presentation scheduled to begin 15 minutes prior to first serve.
 
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