ABILENE, Texas – Northwestern State makes its final road trip of the spring season looking to continue taking steps in the right direction with four matches left on the schedule.
 
The Lady Demons (2-8, 0-8) begin the final stretch of the shortened season with a trip to Abilene Christian on Thursday. First serve from the Teague Center in Abilene is set for 6 p.m. with streaming video available on ESPN+.
 
Not only did the Lady Demons suffer two loses during the week, including a frustrating ending against UIW, a third loss, that of starting libero Haley Hoang to an injury, made for an even tougher week.
 
"It's a huge blow," head coach Sean Kiracofe said of losing Hoang. "She's good and she's somebody that we can absolutely count on to produce in serve receive with her passing. And what she gives us defensively is just fantastic. We have some pretty good liberos in the conference and I put her right there shoulder to shoulder with them."
 
Hoang was averaging nearly six digs per set, most in the conference, earning consistent recognition in the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors (one win and four honorable mentions). Junior Bryce Potter has stepped into the role for NSU as Kiracofe looks for the team to use Hoang's loss as a rallying point for the rest of the year.
 
"It hurts but when you have somebody with her level of talent go down you hope it energizes people to rally around and pick up," Kiracofe said. "No one person is going to replace that, but everyone is going to do a little bit more to fill the void. The last two matches Bryce has done a fantastic job and has been really close to Haley's output in digs per set and done a really great job to fill that situation that was unforeseeable."
 
The loss of Hoang also pushed the Lady Demons into a formation change, moving from the 6-2 with three attackers across the front to a 5-1 with Autumn Gentry taking the primary setter role. The shift has produced immediate results for on the outside for Breanna Burrell.
 
The freshman has had consecutive double-digit kill matches for the first time this season, including setting a new career best with 15 against UIW. She hammered seven of her 12 kills in the third set alone against HBU.
 
Burrell leads the team with 86 kills on the year averaging 2.5 per set.
 
"If you're on the court all the time you're able to get into a rhythm and that starts to build on itself," Kiracofe said of Burrell's recent burst of offense. "We've had to shuffle what we've needed to do because of Haley being out but it's allowed Brea to be on the floor for six rotations. It's allowed her, as it would any player, to get into a rhythm and figure out ways to score and what is and isn't working and adjust on top of that."
 
As Burrell begins to emerge as a potential go-to player on the outside, Abilene Christian (6-4, 5-3) already has an established threat.
 
After missing most of the 2019 season due to injury, Katelyn Mueller has made the most of her final year with the Wildcats. With nearly a four kill per set average she has more than double the kills as her next two closest teammates, putting her fourth in the conference in kills per set and third in total kills.
 
Against Mueller and ACU or any of the three other remaining opponents, Kiracofe is hopeful to see more growth and maturity from his team as they begin to build towards next season.
 
"Go there and fight whether it's going our way or not," Kiracofe said. "Keep pushing and competing until you can start to get things to go your way. It's all growth to go into next fall when we have a full roster. You're learning to be successful for next fall not just this season. Fight and competitive nature at ACU which is your steppingstone into SFA, which is always a tough environment."