NATCHITOCHES, LOUISIANA – The University of the Incarnate Word volleyball team started strong on Saturday afternoon at Southland Conference rival Northwestern State, but were unable to maintain their level of play in a 3-1 loss at Prather Coliseum.

The Cardinals (5-12, 1-3) jumped in front of the Lady Demons (6-11, 3-1) by winning the first set 25-20.  However, Northwestern State rebounded by taking the next three sets 25-16, 25-11, 25-22.  After hitting at a .300 clip in the first set, the Cardinals posted negative attack percentages in both the second and third set.  The team posted a .093 attack for the match while the Lady Demons hit at a .224 rate.

In the first set, the Cardinals were able to pull away from Northwestern late in the set.  UIW trailed 18-16, but scored nine of the final 11 points of the set, including the final five points.  Junior Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) had a hand in each of the final three points with two kills and combined block with Meaghan Patterson (Helotes/O'Connor HS).

In the second and third sets, the Lady Demons ran out to 7-1 leads and the Cardinals were never able to get closer than six points the remainder of the set.  Northwestern was particularly efficient on the attack in the third set with a .419 attack.

The final set was the best of the match.  The Cardinals led for the majority of the time and had a 17-13 lead before the Demons bounced back.  Mackenzie Neely came up with a few important kills for the Demons while the Cardinals had a number of attack errors late in the set.

The Cardinals finished the match with 44 kills, 51, digs, 8.0 blocks and 12 service errors.  Brittani Dear (La Vernia/La Vernia HS) led the team with 12 kills and had a double-double with 10 digs.  Kaitlyn Brooks (Sugar Land/Fort Bend Austin HS) and Taylor McClelland (Cypress/Cypress Ranch HS) each had 17 assists in the match while Claudia Hernandez (San Antonio/Antonian HS) led the team with 12 digs.

The Lady Demons finished with 50 kills, 60 digs, 14.0 blocks and three service errors.  Neely finished with 14 kills and five blocks while Glynna Johnson added eight kills, 10 blocks and a .467 attack.  Emily Johnson dished out 31 assists and Bailey Martin recorded 21 digs.

The Cardinals are back in action on Thursday at Sam Houston State at 6:30 p.m.
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