CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Northwestern State volleyball was unable to overcome a strong offensive performance from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, falling 3-1 (16-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23) at the Islanders' Dugan Wellness Center on Saturday afternoon.

In the process, the Islanders ended NSU's brief three match win-streak, all of which came against Southland Conference foes. Also of note, NSU was forced to play late without sophomore outside hitter Ashley Elrod who re-aggravated an existing knee injury and is day-to-day.

"Today was a tough one, but I am proud of how hard we competed given some tough circumstances," fifth-year co-head coach Hugh Hernesman said. "Losing Ashley at 18-19 in the third set took us out of our rhythm, but I thought Aubrey (Davis) did a nice job once she got warm."

Northwestern State (7-12 overall, 4-2 SLC) returns to the friendly confines of Prather Coliseum on Thursday against New Orleans at 7 o'clock. The match will be the squad's annual 'Dig Pink' game with the team wearing special pink jerseys in awareness of breast cancer.

NSU struggled out of the gate, seeming unable to find an answer for the Islanders' offense, losing set one, 25-16. In the set, A&M-Corpus Christi (10-12 overall, 3-2 SLC) posted 16 kills – twice as many as NSU's eight while holding the Lady Demons' to a .000 hitting percentage. Five straight Islander points put their lead at 9-4. NSU took four of six points behind a Glynna Johnson kill and Mackenzie Neely block to bring the deficit to two at 16-14 but later A&M-CC caught fire late, scoring six of the set's final seven points for the win.

In a pivotal set two, the two squads battled it out early before four straight NSU points including an Ashley Elrod kill and serve ace, put the Lady Demons up 15-12. A Caiti O'Connell kill followed by an Elrod block forced an A&M-CC timeout with NSU leading 19-16. After the Islanders brought the set within one at 20-19, NSU responded in a big way, taking the sets' final five points by way of four kills (O'Connell, Neely, DiFrancesco and Neely again) and a Bailey Martin service ace to claim it, 25-19 and tie the match at one.

The Islanders responded in set three, reversing its fortune and taking set three, 25-19. After NSU led 8-6 on an O'Connell kill, A&M-CC took its first lead of the set since 1-0, at 9-8 as part of four straight points. The two went back and forth down the stretch as a Glynna Johnson kill gave NSU a 15-14 lead but as they did in set one, the Islanders scored six of the sets' final seven points to take the 2-1 match lead.

NSU raced out to a 4-1 lead in a must-win set four and maintained the lead early at 9-8 on a Neely kill before the Islanders turned the momentum, grabbing a 10-9 lead which was eventually pushed to four at 18-14 forcing a NSU timeout. Needing an answer, an Aubrey Davis kill started a Lady Demons' run of seven of nine points to take a 21-20 lead.

The match got testy late with the Islanders' being rewarded a point on a controversial NSU red card to make the set 23-21 in favor of the home team. Shortly thereafter, A&M-CC closed the match out, 25-23.

"We competed hard and there were a lot of moments that we could have fallen apart due to momentum and just didn't let that happen," Hernesman said. "We made a lot of big plays, just not enough of them today. I think our defense did a great job against a very good offensive team. We just didn't have quite enough offensively when it counted."

O'Connell led the way for NSU with 12 kills while Glynna Johnson boasted an impressive .562 hitting percentage highlighted by 10 kills on just 16 attempts. Emily Johnson offered up 20 assists followed by Natalie Jager's 16. Defensively, Martin had 21 digs followed by DiFrancesco's 14. Glynna Johnson added five total blocks and Vanessa Coleman finished with four.