Natchitoches, La. – Sam Houston’s 13-match volleyball winning streak ended Tuesday night as Northwestern State shut out the Bearkats in three sets 25-21 25-21 25-22.
The Demons extended their winning streak to eight matches and produced only the second 20-victory season in Northwestern State volleyball history with the win.
The contest pitted Southland leader Sam Houston with third place Northwestern State. Coming into the match the Kats held a half-match advantage over Central Arkansas in the stands. SHSU drops to 18-10 for the year and 13-3 in Southland play. The Demons now are 20-8 overall and 12-4 in league action.
Kendall Cleveland led both teams with 16 kills and Deveney Wells-Gibson added 14 as Sam Houston totaled 38 kills. Setter Tayler Gray assisted on 33 of the kills.
Stacey Difrancesco led the Demons with 12 kills. Perhaps her most important point came in the first set with the score tied 20-20. Difrancesco put away a kill that started a 5-1 run for Northwestern State to win the first set.
The Demons jumped out to a 4-1 margin in the second frame and never trailed in a closely fought set. Sam Houston held a brief 8-7 lead in the third set and were down only one at 20-19. But Northwestern State closed out the match by winning five of the next eight points.
Sam Houston will complete the regular season with home matches Thursday at 7 p.m. against McNeese State and Saturday at 3 p.m. with Lamar.
The Southland Conference post-season tournament will be held the following weekend in Conway, Ark, hosted by Central Arkansas.
