Box Score Auburn, Ala. – Northwestern State lost its first match of the War Eagle Classic in five sets on Friday evening, falling 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 10-15) to Jacksonville State and in the process bringing the Lady Demon losing streak to six matches.

"We got outworked by a team that played with impressive heart and effort," fifth-year head coach Hugh Hernesman said. "I'm not shocked. This is what Terry Gamble teams do. It's the lesson we need to take from this. It can't happen again."

In the loss, senior libero Keelie Arneson etched her name into NSU volleyball history with 46 digs, a career-high ranking second in school history only behind Tanya Champagne's feat of 58 in 1985.

Northwestern State (3-8) will continue action at the War Eagle Classic on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. against Florida A&M. NSU concludes the tournament and non-conference play against host Auburn at 7:30 p.m. The match between the Tigers and Lady Demons will be featured on ESPN3.com in conjunction with WatchESPN and the SEC Network Plus.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in set one, NSU quickly found the roles reversed and was forced to play catchup. With the match tied at six, Jacksonville State (6-6) rallied off three straight points eventually taking a commanding 15-10 lead entering the stretch. Still trailing 21-15, the Lady Demons made their push. Consecutive Ashley Elrod kills and a Jacksonville State attack error forced the Gamecocks to take a timeout leading 21-18.

Three straight NSU points knotted the set at 22-22 for the first time since 6-6. The two then exchanged points thanks to another Elrod kill. Then NSU took its momentum and ran with it scoring the sets' final two points via a Mackenzie Neely kill and Jacksonville State attack error to claim set one 25-23.

As they did in set one, Jacksonville State took its lead early but this time, the squad did not look back. A Stacey DiFrancesco kill deadlocked the set at 3-3 but the Gamecocks began their push. The Jacksonville State lead was five at 10-5 and unwavering still at 15-10.

Two Elrod kills brought the deficit to within three at 20-17 and again at 23-20. NSU got as close as 23-21 and 24-22 on a Glynna Johnson kill but Jacksonville State finished the set off, 25-22, tying the match at 1-1.

No late comeback was necessary for NSU in set three. After being tied 7-7, NSU rattled off three straight points thanks to a Lauren Agan kill and two consecutive kills by Elrod. Five straight Lady Demon points highlighted by back-to-back DiFrancesco kills gave NSU its largest lead of the match at 20-13.

Kills from Emily Johnson, DiFrancesco and Elrod helped put the set out of reach at 25-19 and NSU took a 2-1 lead looking to close the match out.

Jacksonville State rebounded in a must-have set four thwarting a close one early to claim the set 25-21. A Northwestern State attack error and Gamecock kill put the Lady Demons down 16-10. Following consecutive attack errors later NSU found itself trailing 20-12 forcing a timeout.

NSU rallied with four consecutive points thanks to two Elrod kills and another from Neely. Amanda Kunz got into the action with a kill of her own and after Neely struck again, NSU trailed just two at 21-19. The rally proved not enough, though and the Gamecocks claimed set four 25-21 and forced a winner take all fifth set.

NSU did not get off to the start it needed in the pivotal set five trailing 7-3 early. The deficit was again four and Northwestern State called a timeout trailing 11-7. Following the timeout, Elrod added another kill at 11-8. Consecutive Neely and DiFrancesco kills put the Jacksonville State at 12-10 and the Gamecocks took a timeout. Three straight Jacksonville State points following the timeout ended the set 15-10 and gave the Gamecocks a 3-2 win.

Elrod led NSU in kills with 17 followed by Neely at 15 and DiFrancesco's 13. Emily Johnson added a team-leading 28 assistswhile Glynna Johnson led the way at eight blocks. Following Arneson, DiFrancesco tallied 23 digs and Emily Johnson grabbed 17.