NATCHITOCHES – Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time moments and that is exactly what Northwestern State got from senior Teresa Garza on Thursday night.
 
With the match tied at one set a piece and the Demons locked in a tense battle with New Orleans late in the pivotal third set, Garza seized control of the match and helped lead her team to a 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 27-25, 25-9) win.
 
With the set tied at 24 after the Privateers held off three straight set points to grab the momentum, Garza scored the first of three straight kills to give the Demons a 3-1 scoring run to win the set and take the wind out of the sails of the upset-minded New Orleans.
 
The finish to the third for Garza was just the beginning of her blazing hot finish to the match. In her penultimate match as an NSU Demon, Garza went a perfect 7-for-7 in the fourth set helping the Demons steamroll their way to a 25-9 set and match win.
 
"I kept telling myself this is one of my last volleyball games ever and I want to have no regrets when I look back on this," Garza said. "I had the mindset of just set me every single ball, I'm going to put the ball away and we're winning this set. I trust all of my teammates but when it came down to it I just had this fire inside me. I looked at Gabby (Seeds) and said set me the ball. She trusted me and carried that into the fourth set."
 
Garza's kills accounted for point 24 through 27 of the third set and four of the first 10 points of the fourth. It wasn't until a Samaya Wesson kill that gave the Demons an 11-2 lead in the fourth that someone other than Garza scored via a kill. 
 
She finished the night with 22 kills to lead all players, her third 20-kill match of the season, with 15 of them coming in the final two frames and a .367 attack percentage, the second best mark of her career.
 
Garza's remarkable final two sets put the finishing touches on what was a flying start to the match for the Demons.
 
Looking to maintain their aggressive approach from the service line the Demons collected six aces in the first set to keep the Privateers from establishing any kind of offensive rhythm and approach. NSU served three of their six aces within the first 11 points helping boost them to an early and commanding 11-3 lead in the first set.
 
The Demons dominated the first and fourth sets because of their service ability, getting all 13 of their aces, a new season high and the most in a conference match since having 13 in a match against Lamar in 2014, in those two sets. NSU had no aces in the second and third sets, the two most competitive of the night.
 
"New Orleans was able to figure things out a little in the middle sets but we started to miss some serves there too," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "When you miss a few, you don't want to keep missing and you get easy and people pass balls that are easy. That allowed them to be in system and make things a little difficult for us. But that evolution into the third and obviously the fourth we got back to hitting zones and seams and making it difficult for them and it paid off for us."
 
On top of her 22 kills, Garza picked up her 11^th double-double of the season with 12 digs. Reaghan Thompson also collected a double-double in the match with 15 kills and 13 digs, her sixth straight double-double and 14^thof the season. Gabby Seeds' 42 assists on the night gives her 710 for the season, the first Demon setter with more than 700 assists in a season since Skylar Besch in 2018.
 
The Demons close the 2024 season on Saturday night at 6 p.m. against Southeastern in Prather Coliseum.