CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Northwestern State used a dominating first set win to set the stage for and fuel one if its top all-around performances of the season in a 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-20) sweep of Texas A&M-Commerce to open the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
The Demons (14-16, 9-9) pounded home 43 kills, the fourth most in a three-set match for them this season, to go along with their 16^th double-digit blocking performance to advance to the quarter final round of the tournament against HCU on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.
 
"We played Commerce really well when we played them at our place, so the scout wasn't much different," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "That's a bit of a gamble because you don't know if a team is going to come out with something a little bit different. But it didn't change how we wanted to attack them. They came out, executed really well and I was really proud of how they earned those final two sets."
 
NSU set the tone of the match early and established its unchanged-from-the-last-meeting plan off attack in the first handful of serves. A five-point serving run from Ashlyn Svoboda, that included the first two of NSU's five aces in the match, gave the Demons an quick 5-0 lead.
 
A seven-point serving run from Teresa Garza just moments later pushed the NSU lead to double-digits quickly where Garza, Symone Wesley and Reaghan Thompson combined for four straight kills. The 7-0 run was part of a larger 12-1 stretch by the Demons that made an 18-4 set.
 
NSU hammered home 16 kills in the opening set, committing just two attack errors on 25 total attempts for a .560 hitting percentage to start the match. It was the best single set offensive performance of the season, coming at the perfect time in the first set of the conference tournament. 
 
Wesley, Garza and Tessa Gerwig all had four kills without an error in the first set giving the Demons the dominant 25-9 win.
 
NSU jumped ahead early and big in the second set as well, taking a 14-6 lead after another kill from Garza and a pair of Lion attack errors. Commerce was able to fight back, however, closing the gap down to one point after an 8-2 run.
 
As it has done time and time again this season, the NSU block sparked the final run that made it a 2-0 match. Breanna Burrell and La'Treva Kennedy connected for the fourth rejection of the set, sparking the 5-1 run to give the Demons the late 23-18 lead.
 
"I really don't know how to put into words our block today," Garza said. "It was incredible. Everybody was on fire whether it was the pins setting the block or the middles coming over to close it. I think blocking is a mindset that we have where we're not going to let them score or hit the ball over the net. We are super strong mentally and physically of course."
 
A perfectly timed dump from Piper Boydstun caught the Lion defense napping for a kill setting up the set-winner from Garza on her fifth kill of the set.
 
A string of three NSU blocks, with Thompson in the middle connecting with three different pin hitters, within the span of four points helped push the Demons ahead 14-9 in the third and moved Thompson into a tie with Glynna Johnson for the most blocks in a single season with 160. 
 
After the Lions closed the gap to within two points on a pair of occasions, the Demons turned to their closer to take them home and into a rematch with HCU.
 
Garza smashed home five of her six kills in the third set within the final seven points of the match, including the set winner for the third time on the day. She finished with 15 kills and a .394 attack percentage, a new career best performance.
 
"I always tell them not matter what pass I give them they are able to make it work," Garza said. "So whatever kind of set they give me I'm going to make it work. They did a fantastic job of putting up perfect balls for me to hit today."
 
She finished with a double-double for the 12^th time this season while her B.F.F Svoboda led all players with 22 digs in the match.