Box Score Oct. 23, 2014 Box Score
NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State put together a 9-3 run in the fifth set to overcome the upset-minded Lamar volleyball team in a 3-2 loss (12-25, 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 11-15) for the Lady Cardinals Thursday night at Prather Coliseum in Southland Conference action.
LU (3-17, 3-5 Southland Conference) held an 8-6 lead in the fifth set when a service error from LU's Taylor Autumn followed by a service ace by NSU's (10-13, 7-3) Stacey DiFrancesco gave tied the set at 8-8.
Northwestern State entered the match in fourth place and Lamar sat in eighth place.
Each team went back-and-forth to make it 10-10 before two Lamar errors and three NSU kills ended the match.
Cortney Moore had another stellar game offensively with a match-leading 19 kills and .471 hitting percentage. She had 35 attack attempts and only three errors. As a team, the Lady Cards hit at a .199 clip, including a .314 percentage in the third set.
Autumn Taylor had 14 kills in the match with a .163 hitting percentage, and Chelsea Grant added eight kills.
Three Lamar players finished with double figures in digs. Erika Rojas had 16, Lauren Stahlman had 13 and Megan Schwartz had 10. Ashley Ellis led the way with 44 assists.
Down 3-1 to start the second set, LU put together a 5-0 run to jump up 6-3, and would never fall behind again. NSU would eventually work back to tie it 8-8 and 9-9. After Lamar pushed to 11-9, Northwestern State would never get closer than two points.
The third set was back-and-forth with the largest run being two points, several times throughout the set. The frame ended on back-to-back errors by NSU's Stacey DiFrancesco that made it 26-24.
Caiti O'Connell led the Lady Demons with 15 kills in the match, and Mackenzie Neely had 11. Bailey Martin had 26 digs and Emily Johnson had 21 assists. LU's Chelsea Grant had six total blocks in the match and Glynna Johnson had three.
Northwestern State hit .133 in the match and had a negative hitting percentage (-0.53) percentage in the second set.
Lamar will return to the court on Saturday when they face Stephen F. Austin in Shelton Gym at noon.
