NATCHITOCHES, La. — Lamar University volleyball extended its winning streak to six games with a quick sweep of the Northwestern State Lady Demons, 25-14, 25-16, 25-12, Thursday night at Prather Coliseum.

This was LU's first sweep in five weeks, the last one coming against Abilene Christian on Sept. 20. Additionally, this marks LU's first win in Natchitoches since Oct. 13, 2011.

The Cardinals are now one win away from tying their longest winning streak since 2008.

Meanwhile, it continues to be a tough stretch for the Lady Demons as they were swept for the 12th straight time while they ride a 22-game losing skid.

Throughout the entire match, the score was tied just twice in the second and third sets.

LU began the opening set scoring four unanswered points which included kills from Maja Malinowska and Taisha Rhone as well as a service ace by Alexa Gonzalez.

Using another 4-0 run, the Cardinals extended their lead to five as Rhone highlighted the run with two kills while Lyric Jordan had one.

The Cardinals went ahead by seven with a 3-0 run that had two kills from Hailey McEllrath and Jordan.

Malinowska heated up as she got three kills in a row to put the Cardinals up by 10.

LU outscored the Lady Demons, 5-1, to go up by 12. Rhone had two kills during the run while Malinowska served up an ace, and Jordan and Daniella Udegbunam teamed up for a block.

Jordan put down the final kill to notch the set point.

After a brief 1-1 tie to start the second set, the Cardinals went on to outscore Northwestern State, 4-1. LU got a kill by Jordan while it took advantage of two attack errors and one service error by the Lady Demons.

Malinowska and Udegbunam tallied a pair of kills to put the Cardinals up by five.

LU used a 5-1 run to extend its lead to eight. Jordan had three kills during the run while Gonzalez had one.

The Cardinals closed out the set on a 5-1 run which included three kills from Malinowska as well as kills by Rhone and Udegbunam.

Early in the third set, the score was tied once at two-all before the Cardinals took control and never looked back.

LU scored four unanswered points to lead by six. Malinowska had two kills while Keeley Nellis served up an ace during the run.

The Cardinals dominated the Lady Demons down the stretch, finishing on a 9-0 run.

Rhone served up three aces while Jordan tallied a kill. Emily Moon put down the second-to-last kill.

McEllrath notched the set and match point with a kill.

RECORDS: Lamar (13-11, 6-3); Northwestern State (1-22, 0-9)

MATCH NOTES

• Malinowska recorded her 13th double-double of the season finishing with 13 kills, one service ace and 12 digs.
• Jordan added with 12 kills, one block assist and six digs. She hit .444 for the match, her second highest career attack percentage.
• Rhone tallied her first double-double of the season, tallying 11 kills, two assists, three service aces, two block assists and 14 digs.
• Udegbunam finished with three block assists and one dig on defense while she had four kills.
• Gonzalez aided the offense with 35 assists, one kill and two service aces while she recorded eight digs on defense.
• Gabby Baker tallied 12 digs. Baker is five digs away from tying the fifth most digs in a season in program history (473 digs | Lisa Gaston, 1997) while she is 10 away from tying the fourth most digs in a season (478 digs | Miriam Erickson, 1993).
• The Cardinals had dropped their last seven matches in Natchitoches. LU's last win in Natchitoches was by four sets in 2011.
• This was LU's fourth sweep of the season.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals travel to Commerce for a match against East Texas A&M on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m.