HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Behind a balanced and efficient offense, Northwestern State picked up a 3-1 (15-25, 25-21, 25-21, 26-24) win against Jacksonville on Saturday to finish opening weekend of the 2024 season.
Senior
Teresa Garza's 17-kill outing was the tip of the Demon spear in the match and supported by three others with seven or more kills in the match with a .245 team hitting percentage across the final three sets.
Both team had their best offensive sets of the match with the first two sets of the day. Jacksonville hit .303 in the first set led by Sofia Rampazzo and Cami Kelsay's combined eight kills without committing an error. Their hot start combined with six points directly from serves led to an easy 25-15 opening-set win.
The Demons (2-1) though responded with their best offensive set of the day in the second to even the match at one each.
Garza found her comfortability in the match in the second with six kills on 10 error-free swings in the frame. Two of her six kills in the set came in a key 7-1 Demon scoring run that turned a three-point lead into a 19-11 score. Garza provided the punctuation on the set as well getting the final point with her sixth kill.
She hit .428 in the middle two sets for the Demons as setters
Amina Attra and
Gabby Seeds distributed the ball throughout the offensive options.
"Jacksonville played really good volleyball in the first set and we never allowed ourselves to be in situations where we could win physical match-ups," head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "They were also smart in making some defensive decisions to focus on Reaghan (Thompson). Everyone, specifically Olivia (Bush) and Samaya (Wesson), stepped up to take advantage of those opportunities. Both setters did a good job having to force sets away from Reaghan and Teresa when it was needed."
Wesson, along with
Deja Benjamin, provided 10 kills from the middle and the Demons got eight more from Bush. The trio had just five errors on 40 total swings in the match.
Their ability at the net defensively also paid off during the match with Bush picking up three of her four blocks in the match within a five serve stretch at the end of the third set. Bush combined with Garza once and Wesson twice during a 4-1 Demon closing run to move ahead 2-1 in the match.
The fourth and final set was easily the most competitive of the day with eight ties and four lead changes. There were only two other lead changes the entire rest of the match, both coming in the second set.
The final change came midway through the frame with the Demons trailing 13-11. Wesson and Garza scored on back-to-back swings, tying the set and starting a 6-1 run that was punctuated by kills from Wesson and Thompson.
NSU held the lead in the close battle until the Dolphins tied it at 23 on a kill from Kelsay. The next three points of the match all came on service errors, two of them in favor of the Demons, setting the stage for a match ending attack error by Jacksonville.
Garza and Thompson were both named to the Southern Miss All-Tournament team after nearly identical offensive and defensive performances on the weekend. Garza had 39 kills, 41 digs and five blocks while Thompson finished with 40 kills, 39 digs and eight blocks.
The Demons play their home opener on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Jackson State.
