SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA volleyball team rallied for its ninth consecutive win after edging Northwestern State in five sets (23-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21, 15-5) on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (16-9, 10-1 SLC) trailed 2-1 in the match before coming back to upend the Lady Demons (11-13, 2-9 SLC).
Redshirt sophomore Kelsey Schwirtlich just missed a triple-double after posting 50 assists, 14 digs and nine kills. The Corpus Christi native also added four block assists, while senior Kendra Rowland recorded a double-double of 17 winners and 14 digs. Sophomore Whitney Walls racked up 16 kills to go along with seven block assists and junior Kelsey Jewasko anchored the back row with 32 digs.
Northwestern State was led by Taylor Deering and Kourney Adams, who posted 16 and 15 winners, respectively. Lauren Peltier dished out a match-high 53 helpers and Sarah Gillis led the defense with 27 digs.
With the Lady Demons holding a 23-18 lead in the first set, the Roadrunners reeled off three consecutive points to pull within two (23-21). After a Northwestern State winner and a kill from sophomore Andee Josserand, Schwirtlich mishandled a set attempt, giving Northwestern State, which hit at a .375 clip, the opening frame win. It marked the first time since Oct. 6 that UTSA dropped the first set.
The Birds quickly rebounded by jumping out to an 8-3 lead in the second stanza. After the Lady Demons cut the lead to four (13-9), the Roadrunners pushed their lead to nine (20-11) following an 8-2 spurt. With a 24-16 lead, Schwirtlich split the defense to tie the match heading into intermission. Walls racked up five winners to pace UTSA, while Jewasko collected six digs while anchoring a defense that held Northwestern State to a .000 hitting percentage in 37 attempts.
The Roadrunners led 22-18 in the third frame before a furious Lady Demons rally tied the set at 23. Gillis netted a service ace to give Northwestern State a one-point advantage and a Rowland attack error gave the Lady Demons 2-1 advantage. UTSA posted 10 errors in 52 swings which led to a .096 hitting, while Northwestern State committed only three attack errors and hit at a .268 clip.
The Lady Demons reeled off seven consecutive points to take an 18-16 lead in the fourth set. UTSA took a one-point edge (21-20) in a closely-contested frame after Walls and Briana Mason combined on a block. The Birds pulled away after a 3-1 run to push the match to a decisive fifth set.
UTSA started quick in the final frame led by a trio of winners from Walls to take a 6-1 lead. Walls and Mason paired up to stuff another Lady Demons attempt at the net for a 7-1 advantage and the Birds cruised to a 10-point win.
UTSA, which improved to 29-3 all-time against Northwestern State, will host Central Arkansas (22-6, 11-0 SLC) in a battle of division leaders at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
