BEAUMONT, Texas – Northwestern State kept their high-level play and execution going on the road Thursday night in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) sweep of Lamar.
 
The Demons (13-12, 9-5) hit better than .225 for the fourth straight match, the longest streak  the season, finishing at .281 for the night, served up eight aces and varied their offensive attacks keeping the Cardinals guessing all night.
 
"We carried over our level of play from our last match against Commerce," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "All areas of the game were played at a high level and we made needed adjustments throughout the match. Everyone did a good job taking care of their responsibilities."
 
NSU led through the bulk of the first set, jumping ahead 10-6 early on kills from Teresa Garza and Jordan Gamble as part of a 6-1 run. After stretching the lead to five a few serves later, another 4-1 burst featuring three more kills provided the final bit of separation for the Demons in the opening frame.
 
Breanna Burrell, who had five kills on 12 error-free swings in the first set, scored three straight NSU points leading up to set point and Gamble's pass, set, kill opening frame winner.
 
NSU had just three unforced errors in the opening set with both Burrell and Garza scoring five kills each of the match-best 17 in the first set.
 
A tight second set quickly turned all NSU near the midpoint of the frame with a 12-1 Demon run, including a 9-0 serving run from Amina Attra. A pair of Cardinal errors started the set-changing run and the Demons took full advantage even through a pair of Lamar timeouts to try and quell the momentum.
 
Attra had both of her aces during the run, Garza, Burrell and Reaghan Thompson all contributed with kills and the Demons collected a pair of blocks, including an impressive solo rejection from Thompson. The long run personified the level of play the Demons have displayed over the past four matches, putting all aspects of the game to work at one time.
 
The Demons pulled ahead with a 3-0 burst in the third set after consecutive kills from Burrell, two of her five more kills on this time six error-free swings in the final set. She got all five of those kills by NSU's 16^th point of the set and handed the scoring off to her teammates to finish the job.
 
"Brea had a great night," Kiracofe said. "I say all the time to be aggressive when you can be and smart when you need to be and she did exactly that tonight. She had a good mix of big swings and then smart swings when the situation called for it."
 
Burrell finished with 12 kills on 24 swings without a single attack error and a .500 attack percentage, her second highest performance of the season.
 
Garza added a pair of her team-leading 13 kills down the stretch of the third to give NSU their fourth straight win and move into fourth place in the Southland Conference standings with four matches remaining.
 
Libero Ashlyn Svoboda also reached the 1,000 career dig mark in the match, becoming the second player in the past two weeks to join the club after Symone Wesley did so, and the 12^th player in program history.