NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Northwestern State Demon volleyball team showed strong signs in a four-set sweep of Alcorn State Braves in the team's final tuneup before the regular season Friday night at Prather Coliseum 25-16, 25-20, 25-22 and 25-15.

The Demons came out strong led by sophomore Elsie Sanchez Oliver and freshman Olivia Nzioki as the two both had four kills in the first set. NSU finished the set on a 10-2 run to put away the Braves.

"I started feeling amazing with no pain," said  Sanchez Oliver. "And after last year's injury (in which she missed 12 games) it was good to get out there and play and see the hard work paid off to get back on the court."

Oliver finished the match with eight kills tied with Nzioki for the team lead. The Demons finished with 49 as a team.

In the second set, the Braves came out strong and pushed the Demons as the match was tied 12-12 at the halfway point of the set. But the Demons would surge ahead to a 25-20 win capped off by a kill from sophomore Kenadaii Winfrey, who finished the match with five kills.

In the third set, the Demons had a minimal 24-22 lead before Winfrey again sealed the set with a kill. The Demons dominated the fourth set to a 10-point win as freshman Gillian Grace Wolfe's block clinched the four-set sweep for NSU.

Winfrey, despite her fabulous performance, spoke of nerves in the postgame interview.

"When the game first started, my heart was beating out of my chest," said Winfrey after playing her first collegiate match after redshirting last season. "It was like a reality check for me that I'm cleared and had to lock in. But credit to my teammates to helping me get in the groove."

While Winfrey, Oliver, Nzioki and the Demons appeared to look very crisp in many phases with the 49 kills, 43 digs, 10 blocks and a stout .288 hitting percentage, second-year head coach Ben Kaszeta made it clear that there is still work to be done.

"We may have looked crisp to the naked eye," said Kaszeta. "But we know there are a whole lot of places that we need to get better to have the kind of success we want to have. Don't get me wrong that team beat us in the spring, so we have come a long way. But I do love the passion and energy this group plays with an it showed tonight."

The Demons will open the season next week at the West Georgia Tournament in Carrolton,Georgia. NSU will face West Georgia Friday, Aug. 28 at 1 p.m. CT. Then, the Demons will face Presbyterian College Saturday morning at 9 a.m. CT before wrapping up the tournament Saturday at noon CT against Grambling.

"We have to clean up our serve-receive up before the weekend," said Kaszeta. "And we really got to clean up the service line as we missed 17 serves tonight. So we will celebrate as many little things as we can, but we got a lot of things to clean up starting this weekend in Georgia and moving into conference in a few weeks."