BEAUMONT, Texas – More often than not a good defense will carry a team to victory. While Northwestern State flexed its defensive prowess on Monday night, it was Lamar that got the edge, providing enough offensive support along the way, to take the 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-22) sweep.
 
A total of 70 digs in three sets for the Cardinals (1-8, 1-3) kept the NSU attack from finding its way. The Lady Demons (2-3, 0-3) committed just 16 errors on the night, with no more than six in a single set, but only hit .111 thanks to good positioning and some great saves by the Lamar defense.
 
"I don't want to take away from what Lamar was able to do defensively because 70 digs in three sets is impressive," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "But we were not aggressive enough when we could have been and there were way too many times that we got out of control which resulted in easy digs for Lamar."
 
Close, back-and-forth sets were the story of the night from the beginning. Neither team held more than a two-point edge until late in the opening set. A 4-0 swing in favor of the Lady Demons, thanks to four Lamar errors that included a solo block from Darria Williams, put them ahead 20-18.
 
Lamar slipped ahead with three of the next four points but NSU earned its first set point at 24-22 after a kill from Breanna Burrell and consecutive blocks from Addison McDermott and Reagan Lee.
 
NSU's defense at the net was special throughout the night. Middle's Lee and Audrey Quesnel led the charge with nine combined block assists, while on the outside Burrell and McDermott totaled six assists helping account for 11 total blocks in the match.
 
"We really did a great job blocking tonight," Kiracofe said. "Both Reagan and Audrey played a big role in that obviously, but all of our pins have a share in that either by setting up the block where we needed it or solo when needed."
 
The next four points of the set, and 10 of the next 11 overall, went to Lamar putting the Demons behind 1-0 after the first and 6-1 in the second set.
 
The Lady Demons clawed their way out of the deficit with a 4-0 run to pull within a point, but Lamar answered with a 4-0 stretch, that was once again answered by another Lady Demon 4-0 run.
 
Trailing by two later in the set, NSU got into a point for point stretch that didn't allow them to make up the deficit and saw the second set end on a Lamar kill at 25-22.
 
Just like the previous two, it was a back-and-forth affair throughout the third. A late NSU block and Lamar error evened the match at 21. Three straight kills by Lamar gave them their first set point that they would put away two serves later as Kayla Neumann took over with four kills in the final five points.
 
The defense on both sides shined throughout the night but the offensive edge went to Lamar, despite a continually growing and evolving effort from NSU freshman Breanna Burrell.
 
She finished the night with eight kills with just two errors adding three block assists and a solo to her line. 
 
"Brea had a nice breakout night offensively, and against a big block," Kiracofe said. "Lamar switched into a 6-2 to get a bigger lineup at the net so there were very few easy swings. I can think of three swings off the top of my head that could have ended up as kills that I was really happy with because they were situations we have been working on. I'm as happy about some of the errors as I am the kills."
 
The Lady Demons return to Prather Coliseum on Thursday night hosting Southeastern Louisiana.