THIBODAUX – For the second time in less than a week Northwestern State used late heroics to earn a thrilling win against Nicholls.

Following the Demon football team's lead from Saturday's wild fourth-quarter rally, the NSU volleyball team put together a wild rally of their own, holding off four straight set points and scoring six straight to win the fourth set 26-24 and the match 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 26-24).

"Great performance at the end when it mattered," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "Laura (Weatherford) did a good job staying aggressive with her serve but keeping it in play. Then it was just executing what we had been talking about since the second set, which they obviously did a fantastic job of."

The Lady Demons (11-7, 4-3) split the first two sets of the night with the Colonels (4-14, 1-5) with each team controlling play in the sets they won with attack percentages above .265 during the sets.

NSU upped the performance in the third set, building a five-point lead with a 6-2 run midway through the set. Jordan Gamble matched Addison McDermott's three kills in the final six points from the first set to help the Demons to a match-best .325 attack percentage and 25-21 set win.

Gamble had five kills on eight error-free swings in the third while McDermott had five kills on nine error-free swings in the first to give NSU the 2-1 match lead.

The Lady Demons kept the offense rolling early in the fourth, and thanks to some Colonel errors along the way, built a commanding 12-3 lead. The tide shifted on a pair of Nicholls kills in a row, and combined with a string of NSU errors, the Colonels began to erase the deficit.

The 9-1 run completely erased NSU's advantage and quickly put the Colonels in the driver's seat to force a fifth set with the 20-18 lead. After 12 straight serves without a Lady Demons getting a kill, Reaghan Thompson, the Southland Conference leader in attack percentage who entered the set with seven kills on nine swings, ended the stretch.

Her two straight kills tied the set at 20, but the Colonels rattled off four more points with a block and two kills to reach set point at 24-20.

Having played with their backs against the wall on multiple occasions this season, the Lady Demons tapped that reservoir once again to pull off another dramatic victory in conference play.

Breanna Burrell and Thompson started the game-winning run with kills to hold off the first of four straight set points. A Colonel attack error prevented the third set point and Perry Flanningan pushed things to extra serves with a kill to tie the set at 24.

"The end of the fourth set was crazy," Thompson said. "We had such a big lead at the beginning that losing the set was something that we were not going to allow to happen. The last four points I think we just had a fierce mindset and went out there aggressive and got the points we needed to win."

Now with the momentum entirely on their side, the Lady Demons, and Thompson delivered the killing blows. Thompson and Symone Wesley combined for a block presenting the Demons with match point and Thompson pounded home the final kill to equal a season high 14 kills and .600 attack percentage.

"I try not to pay attention to the score when I play so I didn't even realize it was game point," Thompson said. "So, my immediate reaction was, oh shoot, that's game. I'm so glad we got the win and can't wait for more in the coming weeks."

NSU had five players with five or more kills in the match and four with eight or more led by Thompson's 14. Gamble and Wesley just missed double figures with nine kills each and McDermott finished with eight.

Ashlyn Svoboda led all players with 28 digs, her fifth 20-dig match of the season and the third highest total of her career.