NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State played its most complete match of the season on Thursday night against one of the top teams in the Southland Conference.
The Lady Demons (7-12, 1-3) used a mammoth block to set the tone defensively and crisp offensive production to earn a 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-20) sweep of Houston Baptist (12-6, 3-1). NSU had twice as many blocks as HBU who entered the night leading the conference in the category.
"It was a big win because we've been doing good things, but it just hasn't been paying off with points, set wins or match wins," head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "The improvements have been there it's just been a little hard to see when the end result isn't what you want. That validation that we got some of tonight was really big for the rest of the season."
The presence at the net for the Lady Demons showed itself on the first big scoring run of the night. A block from
Audrey Quesnel and
Symone Wesley served as the seventh and final lead change of the first set propelling NSU to a 10-7 lead.
The Lady Demons were able to keep the Huskies just out of reach the remainder of the set thanks to a near flawless offensive attack.
Kate Idrogo,
Symone Wesley and
Breanna Burrell hammered home 12 of the 13 kills in the set committing just two errors between them.
NSU finished the opening set in convincing fashion with three kills from Idrogo, who had five in the set on seven error-free swings, and two more blocks, including a solo from
Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa, as a part of a 6-1 run.
The block doing its job at the net allowed the NSU offense, thanks to the always solid defense and passing, to really find a groove in the second and third sets.
After four kills in the first set, Wesley carried the Lady Demons with 10 kills in the next two sets with just one error. Her 14 kills in the match tied a career high and her .324 attack percentage was her best of the year.
"I've been struggling a little bit over the past few matches so I knew that I needed to step up," Wesley said. "My teammates were really there for me and we really came together and had each other's backs all night. That really helped me be able to do what I needed to do."
It was her consecutive kills at the midway point of the second that halted a 4-0 HBU run to push the NSU lead back to four leading to the 25-22 set win.
With the 2-0 match lead, the Lady Demons put it all together in the final set squashing any ideas from the Huskies of extending the match.
The key moment epitomizing the fight and effort NSU displayed all night came early in the set with a scrambling, point-saving pass near the NSU bench that led to the first of four blocks in the set. The save made by Wesley kept the play alive and after the over pass, Garcia-Rosa was there for the annihilating block and the NSU point.
"We knew that we need to attack certain areas on the net, and we passed well enough to have options," Kiracofe said. "I was really happy with our block because it was something that we've worked on all week to be better. There were tiny things that hurt us in previous matches and you just have to be a little more disciplined with what you're doing. We were more consistent with what we needed to do and we saw the results tonight."
Burrell and Wesley ended the night with double-figure kills and Garcia-Rosa stood tall for seven total blocks, a new career high.
"We had really good energy throughout the day and our vibe was really good today," Burrell said. "I remember talking to (Reagan) Lee before the game saying we're going to win today. I just had a feeling. We really played for each other tonight."
The Lady Demons take on McNeese on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Prather Coliseum.
