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.
Now SHSU and UCA are tied for first place, both with 13-3 Southland records. Each team has two home matches remaining. Sam Houston hosts McNeese State and Lamar while Central Arkansas will match up in Conway with third place Northwestern State and fourth place Stephen F. Austin.
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. The Kats took two early leads but Northwestern State maintained a narrow lead through most of the set.
Sam Houston was up briefly twice including an 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.
With Central Arkansas and Sam Houston having split in their two meetings this year, the determination of the league's top seed at the tournament will come down to how the two fared against other teams in the conference. SHSU's losses this year have come at the hands of UCA, Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State. Central Arkansas fell to Sam Houston, Oral Roberts and A&M-Corpus Christi.
