NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State pushed Southland Conference newcomer UTRGV in four sets for the second time in a week's time, but little miscues sprinkled throughout the match cost the Demons a 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 25-17) loss for the second straight meeting.
"Frustrating progress tonight," head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "We did a lot of good things and took them to four for the second time so really just frustrating progress. We had to go back into a 5-1 tonight with Amina (Attra) being out and it was good to see our blocking number go back up with us doing that. All the sets really came down to a few unforced errors here, getting stuck in one rotation there, but we did great things and scored in some situations that were difficult."
The little things making the biggest difference in the outcome of the match was most evident by the end of the first set.
The Demons started hot offensively with five kills on their first seven swings of the night and held as much as a four-point led. They were getting production from multiple sources with all the kills coming from four different players and setting themselves up for a successful night.
Missteps in the run of play like being in the net or a double touch call or landing on the center line after an attack gave the Vaqueros "free" points throughout the night and helped them erase the deficit in the first to take the 1-0 lead in the match.
The Vaqueros took the lead behind a 7-1 run to erase the deficit then sealed the frame with an 8-2 stretch to close it. Four points during those runs came in the way of unforced errors by the Demons.
"There were little things that went against us throughout the night and you lose close sets against one of the top three teams in the conference," Kiracofe said. "We were in a position to clean some things up and possibly push it to five."
The Demons responded in a big way in the second set behind their momentum-shifting defensive ability at the net. Six of NSU's 15 blocks in the match came during the second set helping them erase an early four-point UTRGV lead.
Back-to-back rejections where
Deja Benjamin connected with
Reaghan Thompson on one side and
Madisynne McQueen on the other evened the set at 12. UTRGV jumped back on top by two but a 4-0 run, with two more blocks, pushed Northwestern back ahead.
The Demons finished the second with an 8-2 run as they forced the Vaqueros into six attack errors with their defense at the net and five more on swings that landed outside the line.
It was the fifth double-digit blocking match of the season for the Demons with the 15 tying for the second most in a match this year. Benjamin led the way with eight stops and
Samaya Wesson had five. Three other players finished the night with four including setter
Gabby Seeds, doubling her previous career high.
"We did much better with our rotation defense than we did the last time we were in it against Commerce," Kiracofe said. "We were where we needed to be and we made plays. When you play a team like UTRGV, they've got three solid attackers that can manipulate the ball and hit it where they want to. They showed us what happens when we can take something away defensively and how good attackers can adjust. Now it's taking that and making the play in that same situation next time."
The teams battled back-and-forth through most of the third set, neither holding more than a three-point lead at any point and with the Demons clinging to at 19-17 edge in the pivotal set.
Three straight kills from two of the Vaqueros big three attackers, Nadine Zech and Ilana De Assis, flipped the lead to the other side. The kills were followed by three straight Demon errors pushing the advantage to four at 23-19 with too few points left in the frame to allow for a Demon comeback.
Thompson led NSU with 14 kills on the night and picked up her eighth double-double of the season with 10 digs. Benjamin flirted with a double-double of her own with nine kills to accompany her eight blocks on the night.
The Demons once again got solid production on both sides of the ball from Benjamin and Wesson who combined for 16 kills with only two errors, both hitting over .400 in the match and putting up 13 total blocks.
