TROY, Ala. – The Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team had a season high 14 blocks in a 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-17) win over the Murray State Racers to clinch its sixth straight victory Friday afternoon during the first day of the Troy Invitational.
The Demons (7-6) took the early lead 15-8 into the first media timeout of the first set highlighted by three kills from NSU freshman
Amber Craig. The Demons controlled the better part of the first set as
Elsie Sanchez led the way with five kills in route to a 25-17 win.
In the second set, it was a back-and-forth battle as MSU led 15-14 at the media timeouts. The Racers (1-9) continued to lead 20-19 going into a called timeout by MSU after a kill by NSU's
Gillian Grace Wolf. The Demons trailed 22-21 after another kill by Wolf. But MSU scored the final three points of the set on a block, kill and an attack error by the Demons for a 25-22 victory.
NSU found themselves in a 14-11 hold halfway through the third set when the Demons of the last two weeks arrived. Sanchez began to take over offensively as she had three kills and a block to highlight NSU's 14-5 run to end the set. Sophomore
Kenadii Winfrey's kill secured the set for NSU 25-19 as the Demons led 2-1.
In the fourth set, the Demons took control early and led 15-11 at the media timeout. NSU led by as many seven, 20-12, after a rare kill from senior setter
Jade Longlad. The Demons clinched the win on an attack error by the Racers giving the Demons yet another victory.
Winfrey led the way at the net with eight blocks, while Longlad added five. Craig and
Julia Whitfield both had four while Sanchez finished with three.
It was another balanced attack from the Demons as Oliver finished the match with a team-high 13 kills. Craig added 10 while Whitfield, Wolf and Winfrey all had six.
Olivia Nzioki and
Elizabeth Murgurza Rebollo both had five while Longlad had two for a combined 53 kills.
Longlad, the Southland Conference leader in assists per set (9.32 aps), had 39 assists which moved her into the lead in total assists as well with 384.
Emmarie McFarland recorded her 13
th straight double-digit dig match with 16. The Alvin, Texas native leads the conference in total digs with 221.
Valerie Brown also helped the Demons' defense with 11 digs to aid the effort.
"We are finding different ways to win," said Demon head coach
Ben Kaszeta. "Olivia got sick in game one And Julia stepped in huge. Julia does what Julia does. She played smart. Blocked well. Overall did some great things. We kept putting some great pressure on them from the serving line. I asked them to be relentless today. Just play with heart. As hard as they could. Knew the best version of themselves. And I got that for sure."
The six-game winning streak is the longest for the program since the Demons won seven in a row Sept. 5, 2023 - Sept. 22, 2023.
The Demons will play two matches on Saturday against The Citadel (3-6) at 10:30 a.m. and Troy (2-4) at 3:30 p.m.
