NATCHITOCHES – A staple of Northwestern State volleyball in 2022 was its success in five-set matches, winning a program record 11 during the season. The 2023 Demons maintained that prowess in a thrilling 3-2 (26-24, 16-25, 17-25, 25-18, 15-9) win over defending Southland Conference champion Southeastern in Thursday night's conference opener.
 
Down two sets to one in the match and 12-6 in the fourth set, the Demons (3-7, 1-0) engineered a remarkable 19-6 run to send the match to a decisive final set and used that momentum to command the entire fifth frame.
 
"It took everyone and everything in us to get here," Teresa Garza said, who led all players with 19 kills in the match. "We had our lows throughout the match but the main thing for us to get through that was staying calm and staying positive. 
 
"When things weren't going our way we got a little anxious so coming together in the middle and relying on each other helped us overcome those errors. It's an incredible feeling to get this win and just a great team effort."
 
The formula for the Demons, for the second straight match, was using their aggressive service to help limit the effectiveness of the Lions powerful offense, and in turn, create opportunities on the offensive side.
 
NSU put the plan in action through a hard-fought first set leading to four team blocks and reigning Southland Player of the Year Kailin Newsome to a negative .286 hitting percentage. The Demons tied the set at 20 with a 4-0 run, and after trading the next seven points a Tessa Gerwig kill, combo block with La'Treva Kennedy and a sixth error from SLU's Newsome gave NSU the 26-24 win.
 
The second and third sets where different stories however. SLU cut down their attack errors getting multiple kills off the NSU block that was only able to produce one point in those two sets, after four in the first, as the Lions spread the offense to the tune of 25-16 and 25-17 wins and control of the match.
 
"Southeastern is a great team, very low error with high efficiencies," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We had to put them in some sort of pressure and in sets one and four we served tough and put them in a position where they had to force some things and not have the ability to run the ball through the middle like they were able to do in the second and third. We were able to do that when it mattered most."
 
The shift for the Demons in the fourth set began to show itself early on after falling behind 8-2. A block from Reaghan Thompson and Breanna Burrell closed the gap and began to create belief on the court for the Demons. 
 
Four more blocks in a 10-1 run completely flipped the match on its head and gave all the momentum to the Purple and White. Gerwig, Thompson, Garza and Jordan Gamble all had stops during the run as the best blocking team in the Southland stuffed eight attacks in the set and 12 total over the final two frames.
 
"My job is to close the block but I have to give credit to the people on the side of me because they are the whole reason why I get to the right spot and my hands get on the ball," Thompson said. 
 
Two more blocks and a Burrell kills once the Demons reached the 20-point mark pushed the lead to seven and a Lion service error into the net sent the match to a decisive final frame.
 
The momentum at the end of the fourth was huge," Thompson said. "We respect them a lot and knew they were going to come out hard in the fifth and they did. But we kept up the energy, carried into the set, had confidence and got it done."
 
The Lions took an early lead in the fifth on back-to-back kills, but two more blocks from the stout Demon defense flipped the lead back to NSU, one it would not relinquish. 
 
Three consecutive kills from Symone Wesley, Gamble and Garza gave the Demons match-point and after one final kill from the Lions, NSU's 17^th block of the night from Gamble and Gerwig finished the match in convincing fashion.
 
Nine different players had kills on the night for the Demons and six of them had at least three blocks in the match. Burrell and Gerwig each set season highs with 10 and 12 kills respectively and Garza set a new career high with her match-leading 19 with just two errors on 45 total swings.
 
"I have to give a ton of credit to Piper (Boydstun) and Amina (Attra)," Garza said. "They were working their tails off getting down to every pass and setting up almost the perfect ball every single time. 
 
"When the opportunity was there we were taking those big swings but when they weren't we were smart and efficient and placing the ball where they weren't. We've really worked on mixing in our line and cuts and not repeating the same shot twice in a row to keep them guessing."