NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State will try and make history repeat itself on Saturday, but ideally in a little cleaner fashion.
 
For the second week in a row the Demons (8-10, 4-3) lost a grueling five-set match to one of the Texas A&M affiliated schools in the Southland Conference. And for the second week in a row that match immediately following that tough loss comes against one of the Cardinal-based mascots in the Southland Conference. 
 
After falling on the road at Commerce a week ago, NSU trudged its way to a five-set win against Lamar in a match best described with the phrase, "a win is a win." They will look to repeat the result on Saturday when they host UIW (9-9, 1-5) at 1 p.m. in Prather Coliseum but in a more efficient and effective way.
 
"It's cliché but you had last night to be upset about last night but you better come in ready to work on Friday," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We had a little bit of a hangover in that Lamar match and UIW is going to present some physical challenges for us and different looks. 
 
"Unfortunately, we have some practice losing a close five-set match and being able to turn around and play right away. So hopefully we come out better than we did than the start against Lamar and see how it goes from there."
 
NSU lost nearly every statistical category in the match against Lamar but tapped into their clutch genes when they needed them most to pull out at 25-22 win in the fourth set and 15-11 win in the fifth to secure the hard-fought victory.
 
The Demon offense is fueled in large part by the effectiveness of the block, whether it be the energy boost for the entire team after shutting down an opponents attack or affecting the ball in order to create high-percentage chances for NSU attackers.
 
Nine time this season NSU has reached double digits in blocks including four times in the past five matches as they remain atop the conference in blocks and blocks per set and rank in the top 20 in the country in those categories.
 
UIW has the second highest opponent blocks per set average in the conference at 2.07 with 130 of their attacks this season shut down at the net for a point to the opposition. However, when not hitting into the block they are converting kills at the third highest rate in the conference at .228.
 
NSU continues to spread the ball around offensively with near even distribution. Teresa Garza remains the top target thanks to her ability to score from any spot on the floor across all six-rotations and lead the team with 170 kills at a 2.66 per set average.
 
Three other Demons all have over 100 kills on the season and are within 20 kills of each other for their totals. Tessa Gerwig leads the way at 131 while Reaghan Thompson (111) and Breanna Burrell (110) are next in line. Jordan Gamble and Symone Wesley both have more than 70 kills on the season as well.