HOUSTON – The Huskies made quick word of the Northwestern State Lady Demons (25-14, 25-21, 25-15) in Southland Conference Volleyball action Friday night in Sharp Gym.
 
Junior right side Anna Gadway led the way for the Huskies (17-7, 8-2 SLC) with 15 kills, three blocks, and nine digs. Senior middle blocker Ebonie Ballesteros added nine kills and three blocks while sophomore libero Kaley Feris added 15 digs and an ace. Senior outside hitter Mikayla Vivens had 14 digs and eight kills while Junior setter Ellie Wipf set up her teammates with 40 assists and added three kills and three blocks of her own.  Sara Arroyo had seven kills while Jada Allen and Audrey Pearce each added three kills on the night.
 
Breanna Burrell had 10 kills and two blocks for the Lady Demons (9-15, 3-6 SLC) while Jaylibeth Garcia-Rosa added on seven kills. Piper Boydstun had 26 assists and 13 digs while Haley Hoang led the way defensively for Northwestern State with 17 digs.
 
HBU hit .291 for the match, while holding Northwestern State to an .072 attack percentage. The Huskies out dug the Lady Demons 66-58, out blocked them 6-0 and out assisted them 48-28. The Lady Demons out aced the Huskies 3-2.
 
It didn't take long for the Huskies to find their groove as they won seven of the first eleven points in the first set. The Huskies had four runs of at least three points in a row before closing the first set winning five points in a row with two kills from Ballesteros and Vivens
 
More of the same for the Huskies in the second set as they rattled off eight of the first nine points including three kills by Gadway and blocks from Wipf and Pearce. The Lady Demons showed some fight down 14-9 when they won six of nine points to cut the Huskies lead down to just two. The Huskies answered by scoring six of the next nine points on kills from Gadway and Jones and a pair of blocks from Ballesteros and Gadway to make the score 23-17. The Huskies closed the second set on kills from Vivens and Gadway, taking a two set lead into halftime.

After the Lady Demons scored the first two points of the third set, the Huskies answered winning four of the next five points to take a 5-4 lead. After alternating several points, the Lady Demons tied the set up at six. The Huskies would cruise from there, winning 13 of the next 17 points to take a nine point lead, 19-10. The Huskies closed out the match by winning six of eight points and finished with a kill by Allen followed by three kills from Arroyo.
 
The Huskies wrap up their home regular season schedule with Senior Day against Southeastern Saturday at 1 p.m. in Sharp Gym.