NATCHITOCHES – One hyper competitive set win and one runaway set win for each team on Thursday ultimately led to a thrilling five-set win for Northwestern State in the first of two straight meetings with New Orleans.
 
The Lady Demons (14-12, 7-8) improved their record in five-set matches this season to 7-3 thanks to keen defensive work and the ice-in-the-veins play of Reaghan Thompson and Breanna Burrell to get the 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 11-25, 25-12, 15-12) win on Thursday night.
 
There was a lot of ups and downs tonight," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We had a ton of unforced errors through those first three sets, but we turned it around played better in the fourth, but they gave us a ton of free points as well. Both sides worked hard at the end and we had to earn it there in the fifth."
 
The teams split the first two sets with nearly identical scores. The Lady Demons used late scoring runs to erase deficits in both sets, using an Addison McDermott serving rotation to go on an 8-0 run in the second to take the lead and even the match with the 25-23 set win.
 
The next two sets played out nearly identically as well with each team getting help from the other with attack errors creating a pair of double-digit, runaway set loses for each team. The Lady Demons however benefited more from the runaways, winning the fourth set in that manner with their backs against the wall to force the decisive fifth set.
 
One of the major differences for the Demons in the late stages of the match came from the reads made by the defensive back line. The five unforced attack errors and three service errors in the fourth by the Privateers were easily let go by McDermott, Symone Wesley and Ashlyn Svoboda.
 
"We knew they were a different type of hitting team than what we've seen this season," McDermott said. "So, we had to stay a little more disciplined and playing a little deeper, not that they can't bounce balls, but their instinct was to go deeper.
 
"You can see it on film a million times but until you see it in person how they're swinging, then you really understand what's going on. Once we were able to settle into what we needed to do it was easier to read."
 
Two days after setting a career high with 20 digs, McDermott upped the number to 21 to lead five Demons with double-figure digs in the match. Setters Amina Attra and Piper Boydstun both finished the night with assist-dig double-doubles as part of the group.
 
With a read on the UNO attacks, the Lady Demon offense got yet another clutch performance when it mattered most from their freshman standout middle to set the tone early in the frame.
 
After back-to-back aces from Jordan Gamble continued the momentum from the fourth, Thompson delivered four straight points for the Demons with three kills and a block giving NSU the 8-5 lead at the turn.
 
Thompson went 3-for-3 on kills in the set with two blocks as part of her 12-kill, seven-block performance.
 
"We played in so many five set matches in high school and so there's just a comfortability there for me," Thompson said. "I go in and know what to do. And it's also shorter so you know you have to push the whole time, there isn't any time to take it easy at all."
 
Thompson wasn't the only offensive force with ice in her veins the final set.
 
Burrell scored on back-to-back swings as part of a 4-0 NSU run making it a 12-6 game with the Demons fully in the driver's seat. She added another kill to make it 13-8 before UNO's final push of the night made things interesting.
 
A 4-0 run got the Privateers within a point before another attack error gifted the Demons match point that Thompson and McDermott sealed with the eighth block of the night.