NEW ORLEANS – An underlying theme for Northwestern State this season has been growth and evolution as a team, gaining experience and learning from those experiences week over week.
 
A third straight two-match weekend presents another opportunity for the Lady Demons (7-13, 1-4) to continue their evolution as they hit the midway point of the Southland Conference schedule.
 
NSU begins the weekend at New Orleans (1-12, 1-4) on Thursday for a 6:30 p.m., start that will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live links for the match are available on www.nsudemons.com or on the NSU Athletics mobile app, a free download in either the Apple or Google stores.
 
"The ability to have the week to scout and prepare for an opponent worked, we played well and did a lot of good things from a game plan execution standpoint," head coach Sean Kiracofe said about the sweep of Houston Baptist a week ago. "It's a much more difficult thing to do to turn around and change directions and do that again on a Saturday.
 
"Your record usually isn't as high against your second opponent of the week as it is your first. It's hard to jam a game plan in there and be prepared to change gears and play somebody different. That's what we saw against McNeese."
 
The inability to slow down the Cowgirl offense at the pins and an uptick in attacking errors on the offensive side created a stark contrast in the two contests. 
 
The Lady Demons had just four unforced hitting errors, those that didn't come from an HBU block, in Thursday's match leading to their best attack percentage of the season. That number grew to 10 on Saturday and combined with five fewer blocks on the defensive side, allowed McNeese to control play for much of the match.
 
The contrast in the matches both shows what the Lady Demons are capable of producing and where growth of the team can still be made.
 
"It's that evolution to be able to change gears, come back, put something else in front of them from a game plan standpoint and be able to execute that on a short turnaround," Kiracofe said.
 
For the third straight week that is the hurdle the Lady Demons will attempt to clear, this time on the road beginning with New Orleans on Thursday and a Saturday afternoon date with Nicholls.
 
Turning around a scout in a short time is just the next piece in the development NSU hopes to see to go along with more consistent production in critical moments late in sets. Seeing more consistent and varied offensive numbers from pin hitters, an increase in digs and blocks on the defensive side and an overall increase in per-set averages across the board has the Lady Demons trending the right way.
 
The most noticeable growth coming from sophomore outside Beanna Burrell who is averaging 3.2 kills per set in the past 10 matches, an increase of over a kill per set from the start of the season. Three other attackers have also seen increases in their offensive output over that same period.
 
The same can be said on the defensive side as well with dig averages going up by over a dig per set for libero Haley Hoang and six-rotation player Symone Wesley. Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa, who has been consistent all year with her blocking totals, has even seen a bump in her average over the past 10 matches at over a block per set.
 
"It's those small increments of improvement across the board," Kiracofe said. "There's not necessarily one area that I can say is just amazing at this point. That really showed itself against HBU. 
 
"There was no way that we were going to be one dimensional against a team like that and be able to pull off that win. We had to be good in a bunch of different facets of the game, and we were able to do that. It's like what the old Lakers' coach Pat Riley used to say, get one percent better every day and I think we've been able to do that in several areas."