CONWAY, Arkansas – Big players make big plays in the biggest games and experience produces a resilience that pushes you to compete when your team needs it the most.
The Northwestern State volleyball team saw both of those scenarios play out in Friday's dramatic 3-1 win against Houston Baptist in the opening round of the Southland Conference tournament.
Locked in a battle from the opening serve through the final kill, the third-seeded Lady Demons (20-11) showed the fight at the end of every set that has carried them all year -- a fight that was too much for Houston Baptist to counter during the final three sets.
"A lot of fight and composure from this group, just like we've seen all year," fifth-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "HBU made a lot of good plays, but we were able to match them when needed and down toward the end of those sets."
Northwestern State moves on to face No. 2 seed Sam Houston State, which outlasted No. 7 seed Southeastern Louisiana in five sets, in Saturday's noon semifinal.
The trend of the match showed itself midway through the opening set. When one team built even as much as a three-point advantage, the other came storming back.
NSU was the first to suffer at the hands of a big comeback, seeing an 18-14 lead disappear quickly with a 6-0 HBU run that put them ahead. The Huskies (17-15) controlled the back end of the first set, using a pair of 3-0 runs late to take the opener 25-22. The Lady Demons had by far their worst hitting effort of the match in the opener, committing 12 errors and only producing a .024 attack percentage.
The turnaround was drastic for NSU and continued through the rest of the match.
The Lady Demons used a 4-0 run late in the second to take an 18-17 lead sparked by back-to-back kills from
Kourtney Seaton and
Hannah Brister to begin the rally. Brister, the Southland Conference Player of the Year, added three more kills before the end of the set.
After a five-error opening set,
Alexis Warren provided two kills and a block assist in the final three points to even the match at one set a piece. NSU had just three attack errors in the second set, a quarter of their total from the first.
Northwestern State displayed its resiliency again in the pivotal third set.
Down 21-17, the Lady Demons closed on an 8-2 run to grab the set and take a 2-1 match lead.
On a day where Brister became the first Northwestern State player to notch 500 kills in a season, the closing stretch in the third was powered by a balanced attack.
Brister had two kills in the run, but
Alexis Warren added one as did
Darria Williams, who was part of combo block with freshman
Addison McDermott to even the set at 22. Williams' kill off a
Cayman Sutton feed clinched the set and put Northwestern State on the precipice of its first conference tournament win since the 2014 SLC Tournament championship match.
Brister finished with a 24-kill, 21-dig double-double while Warren added 11 kills and 14 digs. Williams delivered nine kills on 18 error-free swings. Seaton chipped in 10 kills as the Lady Demons spread out the offense.
"Darria and Lex had great matches and really came through for us to make this win happen," Kiracofe said. "Hannah obviously produced, but those two showed up in very important moments. HBU plays great defense, which is frustrating for any outside hitter, but Lex kept with it, made good choices and took the information from the bench and put it to use.
"Darria was incredibly consistent in good and bad situations and really provided a lot to the offense, which we needed against that defense."
The final set followed the same script as the first three as it was played within a six-point window.
Neither side took more than a three-point lead, and each time, the other had a response.
After a Warren kill evened things at 18, HBU responded with a 3-0 run, which Northwestern State matched.
Brister provided the clinching rally, breaking a 22-all tie with a kill and then hammering down back-to-back kills after pulled back even at 23.
