NATCHITOCHES – In a match where one play could seemingly turn the final result for one team or the other, it was Northwestern State that came away with an important 3-2 (23-25, 26-24, 25-16, 23-25, 15-5) victory on Thursday night against UIW.
 
The intensity of the match was established after two razor-thin sets to start the night. Through the first two sets the teams produced nearly identical numbers across the board, splitting the final scores with NSU evening the match after a 26-24 second-set win.
 
After letting a late 22-19 lead in the first set slip through their fingers, the Lady Demons (10-16, 4-7) held off a late Cardinal push to win the second and set the stage for an exciting finish.
 
"Had we been able to close out the first I think we could have run away with it," head coach Sena Kiracofe said, "but it was very fitting after the first two sets for it to go five. To lose the first set in the fashion that we did after being on a roll, following a scout, creating situations offensively and defensively that we wanted and have it slip away can be deflating. I am very proud of them for come out and to win a close one in the second was huge."
 
Carrying the momentum from the set win, the Lady Demons jumped ahead early in the third behind some well-timed, and well-placed, serves.
 
Haley Hoang engineered a 6-0 scoring run, bolstered by a solo block from Symone Wesley and another from Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa and Kate Idrogo on consecutive plays. The run put the Lady Demons firmly in control at 13-6. After a kill from UIW, Ragan Ward stepped to the line and helped extend the lead even further with four straight points putting NSU up by 10.
 
A pair of late kills from Breanna Burrell and the winner from Idrogo gave NSU the easy 25-16 win, but the Cardinals turned the tables in the fourth.
 
UIW (10-17, 5-7) sprinted ahead 13-6 before the second long serving run from Hoang brought the Lady Demons back within striking distance. Another 6-0 stretch, this time featuring three straight aces from the NSU libero made it a 13-12 game.
 
"I'd been struggling a little bit this week with my serving so tonight I was just trying to get my mind right and focus," Hoang said. "I just wanted to get back there and stay aggressive while not being too aggressive but placing the ball and trying to get them out of system so their big hitters couldn't take those big swings."
 
NSU tied the game at 17 and again at 19 before back-to-back Cardinal blocks late gave them the edge they needed to force the decisive final frame.
 
After a back-and-forth beginning to the fifth, Burrell pounded home two critical kills to give the Lady Demons a three-point edge, the final two of her 13 on the night.
 
"I said to myself that we are not losing this game," Burrell said. "We're not doing it. Ragan (Ward) wrote hit the ball on my hand again tonight. I don't like going out and playing timid so I wanted to go out, swing as hard as I could and see what happened."
 
Up by two at 7-5, the Lady Demons scored the next eight consecutive points to run away with the final set earning the thrilling victory.
 
Garcia-Rosa led NSU with 15 kills on the night, a new career high, adding six blocks to contribute 21 total points. Burrell and Wesley both reached double figures in kills with Addison McDermott and Reagan Lee coming in with nine and eight respectively.
 
Four players reached double figures in digs led by Hoang's 23 with setters Piper Boydstun and Ragan Ward each picking up 18.
 
The Lady Demons return to action on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. for senior day against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.