SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of Incarnate Word volleyball team suffered their third straight five set loss as they were defeated by Northwestern State 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 20-25, 15-12 on Thursday night at Prather Coliseum.  

In the opening set of the match, the Cardinals (7-17, 5-10) and Demons (7-21, 5-10) traded the lead until NSU got back-to-back kills to take a 16-13 lead. The Cardinals would charge back to tie the set at 22-22 after a kill from Madison Williams (New Braunfels/Canyon HS), but Northwestern State would score three out of the last four points to win the set 25-23.

In the second set, the Demons had 19 kills and posted a .531 attack.  They held a 4- or 5-point cushion for the majority of the set and won, 25-20.

Down 2-0 in the match, UIW responded well to the must-win situation and used two late runs to win the third set, 25-22. After falling behind 21-16, the Cardinals scored five straight points to tie the set at 21-21 and then scored the final four points of the set thanks to a Williams kill and block.

The Cardinals continued to play well in the fourth set as they jumped out to a 15-12 advantage and forced the Demons to call a timeout midway through the set.  After the timeout, UIW scored two straight kills by Autumn Lockley (Leander/Leander HS) forcing Northwestern State to call another timeout and giving the Cardinals a 17-12 lead.  UIW would then cruise to the 25-20 set victory to tie the match at 2-2.

The pivotal fifth set was a back and forth affair early on and neither team could get an advantage.  However, after the Cardinals tied the match at 12-12, the Demons scored three straight to take the set, 15-12 and the match, 3-2.

Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) led UIW with 14 kills in the match and an impressive .476 attacking percentage.  Sarea Alexander (San Antonio, MacArthur HS) also had a very good performance with 11 kills and a .375 attacking percentage.  Kaitlyn Brooks (Sugar Land/Fort Bend Austin HS) directed the Cardinal attack with 29 assist while Taylor McClelland (Cypress/Cypress Ranch HS) recorded 23 assists.  The team had 62 kills to go along with a .215 attack percentage.

The Demons posted a .304 attack with 63 kills on the night.  Caitlin O'Connell had 18 kills and a .357 attack while Reagan Rogers added 16 kills and a .538 attack.  Natalie Jaeger had a double-double with 52 assists and 17 digs and Amanda Kunz had eight blocks as NSU finished with 16 for the match.

The Cardinals return to action on Saturday for the final match of the season at Stephen F. Austin with a 12:00 p.m. start time.
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