NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State volleyball team has several measuring-stick matches remaining down the stretch of Southland Conference play.
The Demons found out Saturday just where they need to go when those arrive.
Visiting UIW entered Prather Coliseum as one of four teams tied for the Southland lead, and the Cardinals maintained that standing after sweeping Northwestern, 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16).
"That is the cream right now," second-year head coach
Ben Kaszeta said. "They are the team that has been at the top of the conference or second in the conference all season. They were the preseason No. 1 or No. 2. They're very good at what they do. They're a very disciplined team. For us, we're just trying to learn how to have continued and sustained success against teams like that."
Northwestern (13-14, 5-7) strung together a few moments on each side of the ball throughout the match, but UIW (12-9, 10-2) had an answer for whatever the Demons put together.
Down 4-2 early in the second set, Northwestern delivered its best blocking sequence of the match as the duo of
Amber Craig and
Olivia Nzioki combined for back-to-back combo blocks to tie the set.
One point later, Nzioki notched her lone solo block of the match to again level the score.
From there, however, UIW took control of the set and the match with an 8-1 run.
Nzioki finished with a match high seven total blocks (one solo, six assists) as each team recorded seven blocks.
"We had some great moments today," Kaszeta said. "Our defense played awesome. We reminded them of the game plan coming out. We wanted to take away (UIW outside hitter Kitana Tu'ufuli) line shot. That's her favorite shot when she's swinging hard. We did that twice."
The Cardinals hit .313 for the day, buoyed by a .333 mark in the first set and a match-best .342 number in the second.
Meanwhile, the Demons hit .085 with Northwestern's best offensive set coming in the second as well. Coming off a thrilling five-set win against HCU on Thursday night, Northwestern could not find the same spark.
"Maybe the five-set match the other day took a little bit more of our emotional energy," Kaszeta said. "We were a little flatter and couldn't sustain today."
Nzioki and
Elizabeth Muguruza led the Demons with seven kills each while libero
Emmarie McFarland notched a match-high 19 digs.
Nzioki found her groove offensively in the third set, collecting four kills on 10 swings, but it was too late for Northwestern.
"Their change took a little bit of pressure off of us, and that made it a little easier to get the ball to Olivia," Kaszeta said. "Earlier, when (Tu'ufuli) was on the court, it made it hard to find Olivia, because (Tu'ufuli) hits some shots that made it awkward and weird enough to get it to the middle hitter.
"When she was out, we were able to get the ball to Olivia a little better, and we had a great little run there in set three."
Northwestern returns to action Thursday when it opens a two-game road trip at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m.
