Northwestern State picked up a pair of postseason volleyball honors on Jan. 8 with the announcement of the 2024 Louisiana Sports Writer’s Association All-Louisiana team.
Reaghan Thompson earned her third straight All-Louisiana selection with a spot on the second team while newcomer Deja Benjamin was given an honorable mention after her first year playing in Louisiana. The All-Louisiana team is chosen by statewide sports media and sports information directors.
After leading the Southland Conference blocks and blocks per set in each of the previous two seasons, Thompson made the move to outside hitter in 2024, her first time to ever play the position in her career.
The six-rotation outside proceeded to become the only player in the conference to rank in top 10 in the league in kills per set (3.51), points per set (4.08) and digs per set (3.29) for the season. She was second on the Demons with 293 digs and led all non-liberos in the conference with that total.
During the year, Thompson became the first player since Hannah Brister in 2019 to record 20 kills in a single match, doing so on five different occasions throughout the year. She set a career high with 23 kills in NSU’s home opener against Jackson State.
Thompson also was the first player since Brister to have 20 kills and 20 digs in a single match with her 20-kill, 23-dig performance in the five-set win against HCU. The 20-20 match was one of just three such performances across the entire Southland Conference on the season.
She totaled 13 kill-dig double-doubles on the year, including a string of six straight at the end of the season. Thompson ranked seventh in NSU’s single season kill per set leaderboard in 2024 and entered the top 15 in career kills.
Thompson’s 55 total blocks on the season also moved her into second all-time on NSU’s career blocks leaderboard at 367.
Benjamin maintained the standard for NSU middles in her first season in Natchitoches producing a career-best season and the fourth 100-block season by a Demon middle in the past three years.
The junior transfer finished with 117 rejections on the season and a 1.29 per set average, the second highest in the Southland and the second best in a single year at NSU. Her total block number was the seventh highest single-season total at NSU.
She tied the Southland season-high for most blocks in a single match with her 11 against HCU on Oct. 31 and alongside Olivia Bush became the first teammates to each record 10 blocks in a single match, doing so in the home opener against Jackson State.
Benjamin had 10 matches on the season with five or more blocks and at least four in 11 of the 16 conference matches on the year.
Equally as effective offensively out of the middle, she finished third on the team in kills with 139 for a 2.47 per set rate and had a season attack percentage of .300. Benjamin had 10 matches during the year with an attack percentage of .400 or higher including a career-best .615 effort at UTRGV on Oct. 10.