NATCHITOCHES, Louisiana. – Despite dropping the first two games to Northwestern State Thursday night, the UCA volleyball team rallied and took the final three games to earn their first Southland Conference victory of the 2011 season.

“I’m very proud of our team, “said first year head coach David McFatrich. “We battled for every point and we had to do that because we never got in a good rhythm all night---Northwestern State was a big reason for that.”

Things looked grim early for the Sugar Bears as the Lady Demons took sets one and two 25-19 and 26-24. UCA settled in, however, and managed victories of 25-20, 25-20 and 17-15 to secure the victory. The 25-20 third set victory marked the first time in 10 tries this season that UCA had won a third game.

The Lady Demons kept the Sugar Bears off balance all night with their service attack, tallying 16 aces.

“We struggled all night long with our serve receive but in crunch time our passing was good enough for us to pull out a win,” said McFatrich.

Things didn’t get any easier in the second set as preseason All-Southland Conference selection Jessica Hays left the game due to an injury. Lindsey Barron answered the call though and finished the match with nine kills while hitting .381.

“I’m very proud of Lindsey and the way she came in and played tonight,” McFatrich said. “She was a huge lift for us.”

As a team, the Sugar Bears out-hit the Lady Deomons .241 to .108 and recorded 75 digs to 61 by NWLA.

Freshman Taylor Whileyman led the way for UCA, notching 12 kills while hitting .407 and adding nine digs. Taylor Hammonds, who had many key kills down the stretch, hit .450 and finished with 11 kills and five total blocks. Marissa Collins added a double-double with 50 assists and 14 digs and Cristin Curl led all players with 27 digs.