NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State Demons rallied past the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders in four sets (12-25, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-13) Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons (11-10, 3-3 SLC) fell behind early 15-6 to start the match at the first media timeout and never recovered in the opening set. The Islanders (6-11, 4-2 SLC) cruised to the first set win, 25-12, hitting .429 (13 kills, 1 error, 28 attacks).
Then suddenly, the script completely flipped as it was all NSU from that point. Demon head coach
Ben Kaszeta referenced the Islanders speed as an adjustment NSU had to make.
"They do different things that not a lot of other programs do," said Kaszeta. "One of the things that makes them a successful program is they found this niche where they just go faster than everyone else. They literally go faster where their sets take less time than everyone else when you time it. It's just a different pace that you have to get used to which we did much better after the first set."
The second set saw the Demons roar back into the match as freshman
Olivia Nzioki and sophomore
Elsie Sanchez began to get NSU back in the match. The two combined for 14 of the first 23 kills for the Demons as the match tied at 17-17. After the Islanders took a 20-17 lead, the Demons rallied back to take the lead, 21-20, after
Kenadii Winfrey's kill. Nzioki;s block and
Amber Craig's kill NSU hang on to take the second set, 25-21, snapping a 15-set losing streak to the Islanders.
NSU fell behind in the third set 9-4. But once again the Demons showed their resilience rallying back to take a 14-13 lead after Nzioki's 10
th kill of the match. NSU led 19-18 after Craig's kill before the Islanders tied the match at 20-20 setting up a thrilling finish to the third set. NSU took the 23-21 lead after Nzioki and Sanchez's assisted block and a bad set by the Islanders. The Demons would secure the third set on Winfrey's kill to give NSU a 2-1 lead.
The Demons kept pushing forward in the fourth set as they led 6-4 after Sanchez's 12
th kill. NSU surged out to a 13-5 lead following a kill by Craig and a bad set by the Islanders. NSU took a comfortable 15-7 lead into the media timeout. After the timeout, it was Sanchez who put it out of reach with two more kills to give NSU a 22-12 lead and her match-high 14
th kill as the Demons ran away with the win.
"The good thing is everyone on this team is getting a little better each match," said Kaszeta. "Everyone is starting to understand their roles and the product starts to look better. Sure, it was a tough start but that was part of the growth not just for the game but for the entire season."
Sanchez's 14 kills paced the Demons while Nzioki finished with 11 and Winfrey had 10. Craig had nine and just one error as she hit .400 for the match.
Jade Longlad had another solid game with 41 assists and nine digs while
Emmarie McFarland had 10 digs for her 20
th double-digit kill match it 21 matches for the Demons. The win snapped the Islanders' five-game winning streak against NSU.
Next up, NSU hits the road next week for two games at Nicholls (9-9, 2-3 SLC) Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. and next Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. against McNeese (5-11, 1-4 SLC).
