SAN ANTONIO – The Northwestern State Demons were defeated 3-1 (25-15, 25-17, 23-25 and 25-20) on the road by the UIW Cardinals Saturday afternoon at the McDermott Center in San Antonio.
The Demons (9-8, 1-1 Southland) fell behind early in the first set as they trailed 23-14. The Cardinals (4-7, 2-0 SLC) controlled the majority of the first set winning 25-15.
The second set didn't start much better for the Demons as they trailed 7-3 after a 4-0 run by UIW. NSU had just seven kills to 20 at that point of the match when NSU head coach
Ben Kaszeta called a timeout.
NSU began to crawl their way back into the match in the second set but still trailed 18-13. The Demons hung touch after an ace by
Valerie Brown making it 19-15. But UIW scored six of the next eight points to take the second set on a Demons' attack error, 25-17.
The third set didn't start any better as NSU trailed 5-0 and were staring at a sweep. But the Demons had other ideas.
The Demons tied the match at 9-9 after an attack error by the Cardinals. NSU led 12-11 as
Olivia Nzioki began to make her presence felt with her seventh kill. The Demons led 15-12 at the third set media timeout. However, after the timeout, UIW took the lead 19-18 after a kill and Demons' attack error. NSU battled back to take a 21-19 lead after two kills from
Gillian Grace Wolf and a block by NSU.
Later in the set, the match was tied at 22-22 when NSU scored on a net violation on UIW and a kill from Nzioki giving the Demons set point, 24-22. Ultimately, it was Nzioki yet again for the kill to give NSU a 25-23 third set win.
The Cardinals had the early lead in the fourth set, 6-5, after a kill by Gabby Fish. The Demons quickly took tied the match at 8-8 after a kill by
Amber Craig. The Cardinals inched in front 13-10 but NSU tied the game after yet another kill by Nzioki at 18-18. However, the Cardinals' offense took over with six kills in the next seven points to win 25-20.
"We are learning," said Kaszeta. "First game was tough. They played really well and took us out of the system well. We battled hard against a really tough program. As we continue to improve, we will learn how to battle through against tougher teams. Today we did that in set three. I feel like the adage. If we had more time we could have beat them. We continued to learn through the match. We hit and blocked better throughout. I'm proud of our effort. On Monday we will get in and watch film so we can see where we need to improve."
NSU was led by Sanchez with 14 kills while Nzioki had 13 and Wolf had 10.
Emmarie McFarland had her 17
th straight game with 10 or more digs with 19 while
Jade Longlad had 37 assists.
The Cardinals finished with 64 kills to 44 for the Demons. UIW hit .253 (64-22-163) while NSU finished .155 (44-21-148).
Next up, the Demons will play their conference home opener Thursday night against the Southeastern Lions (4-11, 1-1 Southland) at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday's match will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Patrick Netherton and Caley Carter on the call. Live stats available at NSUDemons.com. Live updates and video highlights will also be available on the NSU volleyball twitter page @NSUDemonsVB.
