NATCHITOCHES – There were scary good times and scary tense times for Northwestern State in its five-set Halloween thriller against HCU on Thursday night.
 
The Demons took a two sets to none lead in the match with one of the most dominant 25-point performance of the season in the second. The Huskies, behind a Herculean effort from outside hitter Emerald Jacobs, evened the match by winning the next two sets sending the match to a decisive fifth frame.
 
Facing match point for the second time beyond the 15-point goal, the Demons put together their most clutch three-point scoring burst of the season to come away with the 3-2 (29-27, 25-14, 18-25, 23-25, 19-17) win.
 
"The way we were able to maintain composure when it was close, which we've been all year, was huge," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "There was just a different mentality there. That first set really set the tone for what we were capable of. 
 
"We had a dip there in the third and fourth and some of those things that have been haunting us from past matches got us there. But for them to be able to maintain that mentality and keep it close in the fourth really paid off for us in the fifth."
 
The trigger point for the Demons came near the end of the first set while trailing HCU 18-14. After a timeout, the Demons rattled off four straight points with kills from Samaya Wesson and Reaghan Thompson to tie the score. The run turned into a 6-1 stretch overall to set up the thrilling end to the opening frame.
 
NSU worked its way to the first of three set points on an Olivia Bush kill that were each turned away by the Huskies, twice on kills of their own and once on an NSU error. The Demons held off a set point of their own down 27-26 thanks to another kill from Wesson.
 
Two blocks later, a combo from Thompson and Deja Benjamin and solo from Benjamin, gave the Demons the first set win in dramatic fashion.
 
The Demons picked up nine of their 18 kills in the first set within the final 14 points of the frame with just two attack errors during that time.
 
"Energy is the first word that comes to mind about tonight," Teresa Garza, who finished the night with 23 kills to lead the team, said. "Volleyball is such a game of momentum and who can rally the most and keep running away with that. There was a lot of back and forth between us and I was just so proud of how everyone came together and worked so hard for this win."
 
The Demons used the energy of the first-set win to engineer one of the best all-around sets of the season over the next 25 points.
 
Freshman setter Gabby Seeds guided the Demons offense to a .500 attack percentage in the second set with 15 kills on 30 error-free swings to take the dominant 2-0 lead in the match with plenty of momentum. 
 
Thompson and Garza each scored five kills in the set on their way to a pair of 20-kill performances. It is the first time under 10^th-year head coach Sean Kiracofe that two players recorded 20 or more kills in a single match.
 
Five different players, including Seeds, had a kill in the second set as the Demons hit .360 over the first two sets of the match.
 
"That was really amazing," Seeds said about the second set. "That was probably some of the best volleyball that I've seen from in game play. We've been struggling with our errors so for us to clean it up that fast this week was really amazing."
 
Eight HCU attack errors in the set also helped the Demon cause in the race to 25 and 15 in the first two sets from the visitors saw them in a 2-0 hole. HCU had just five errors in the third set and 11 total over the next two as offensive linchpin Jacobs found her swing in a big way to lead the Huskies comeback.
 
Jacobs smashed nine kills on 11 error-free swings in the third to prevent the Demon sweep and added five more kills in the fourth as HCU's offense snapped into an efficient rhythm. They were able to edge out a 25-23 win in the hotly contested fourth set where both teams hit over .280 in the frame.
 
The intensity of the fourth set was magnified by the vitality of the fifth with each team controlling portions of the set leading up to the thrilling finish.
 
The Huskies took the early 3-1 lead with the Demons coming back to take the 8-7 lead at the turn on a kill from Benjamin. The 4-1 stretch started by the NSU middle made it an 11-8 affair. The run was immediately answered by the Huskies to even things at 12.
 
Like they did in the first, the Demons tapped into the composure they needed to hold off a pair of match points after the 15-point mark. 
 
Down 17-16 after back-to-back miscues, Benjamin delivered her eighth and most critical kill of the match to tie the match at 17. One of the best blocking combos in the Southland Conference, Benjamin and Thompson, stood tall again to give the Demons match point at 18-17. The next swing from the Huskies sailed wide of the line to snap the Demons losing skid.
 
Garza led the team in kills with 23 while Thompson led the team in digs with the same total. Thompson's 20 kills on the night gave her the first 20-kill, 20-dig performance since Hannah Brister in 2019, just the ninth such match at NSU in the rally scoring era.
 
Seeds set a new career high with 51 assists getting the ball to the Demon middles Wesson and Benjamin as well who each picked eight kills in the match. 
 
Benjamin set a new career high with 11 blocks, moving her within seven of a second straight 100-block season.