LAKE CHARLES – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team finished with just 23 kills as they were swept by the McNeese Cowgirls 3-0 (25-9, 25-21 and 25-16) Saturday afternoon at Townsley Law Arena.
The Demons (12-11, 4-4 SLC) hit just .080 for the match (23-15-100) for the second lowest total of the season in kills and hit percentage. NSU was led by
Elsie Sanchez with seven kills while
Jade Longlad had 14 aces and
Emmarie McFarland added nine digs.
The Cowgirls (8-11, 4-4 SLC) finished with a .343 hit percentage (43-9-99) which was the second highest percentage for a Demons' opponent this year (Little Rock - .468).
McNeese's Gabbie Maldonado had 15 kills to pace the Cowgirls while Ava Henry added 10 to aid the offense. Megan Grose finished with 17 assists while Sophia Tocmo had 21 digs.
The Demons fell behind big in the first set and were down 15-5 at the first set media timeout. The Cowgirls continued the onslaught as they took the set 25-9 capped off by an ace by Carli Banks.
NSU tried to fight back in the second set as they took a 15-14 lead after a kill by
Olivia Nzioki and two attack errors by the Cowgirls. But the Cowgirls rallied-back to take the lead 23-21 then clinched the set on back-to-back kills by Maldonado.
The Demons trailed 17-15 in the third set to give themselves a chance. But the Cowgirls finished the match with an 8-1 run finished with Grace Neal Berry's ace to seal the win.
"That team (McNeese) today played so good," said Demon head coach
Ben Kaszeta. "They had a great game plan and studied film and exploited every weakness we had today. They deserved that win today. We adjusted in game two but missed a couple of serves at crucial moments and deflated our momentum. I felt like we were trying to win with one swing or one serve at moments today. Sometimes when you are at a disadvantage, you try and do too much and unknowingly hurt yourself in the process and I felt that we did that today. Hats off to coach Gray (Taylor Grey – McNeese head coach) and her team though. They played extremely well."
Next up, the Demons will return home Wednesday night to face the Lamar Cardinals (6-15, 3-5 SLC) at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. The Cardinals were defeated earlier Saturday by league-leading UT- Rio Grande Valley (12-7, 8-0 SLC) on the road.
