NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team bounced back with a 3-0 sweep (25-23, 25-22 and 25-23) of the LSU New Orleans Privateers Saturday afternoon at Prather Coliseum.
The Demons (10-9, 2-2 SLC) got out to the lead in the first set, 15-10, highlighted by senior
Jade Longlad's 1,000 career assists. She became just the 15
th player in program history to record at least 1,000 assists. The Calgary, Alberta, Canada native had 12 assists in the first set helping NSU to a 25-23. NSU had a 22-16 lead and held off a late run by the Privateers (2-15, 0-4 SLC) thanks to a kill by
Kenadii Winfrey.
In the second frame, the Demons had an 18-15 lead late in the second set following
Elsie Sanchez's eighth kill. But the Privateers quickly tied the match at 18-18 when NSU head coach
Ben Kaszeta called a timeout. NSU, then, pushed ahead 23-21 after a kill by
Olivia Nzioki and an attack error by the Privateers. After the Privateers scored to close the gap, Nzioki blasted another kill to give NSU set point. Sanchez would finish the set with a kill for her 10
th of the match and a 25-22 win for the Demons.
The third set, the Demons and Privateers had another good battle going as the match was tied at 15-15. But it was Longlad who got an ace and kill to give NSU the 22-21 late in the match. Then with the third set up for grabs tied at 23-23,
Amber Craig and
Gillian Grace Wolf's kills gave the Demons the straight set win.
"This team competes," said Kaszeta. "We are going to play as hard as we can and compete. Sometimes we may do some things that hurt as a young team, but we are going to fight the entire match and we showed it today. New Orleans was a really tough opponent whose record shows nothing. That's a good team that's going to cause a lot of problems for teams in this league."
Sanchez finished with a team and game-high 16 kills while Wolf had 10. Nzioki had eight while Craig added seven. Winfrey added four as NSU finished with 48 kills.
"It was a pretty intense game," said Sanchez. "They were playing hard too, and they're a good team and the match was back and forth. But I thought we had a lot of energy today and that helped us a lot."
Longlad had 35 assists to give her 1,032 for her career.
"It's (1000 assists) something I'm very proud of," said Longlad. "But that doesn't happen without the girls around me. When we're out there in unison and everyone is playing well, then the stats look good. But I owe it to my teammates."
Next up, the Demons will play host to reigning co-Southland Conference champions the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (8-7, 4-0 SLC) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. UTRGV defeated Houston Christian (0-4, 2-14) earlier Saturday in three sets at home.
