LUBBOCK, Texas – Despite a season-high, single-match total for blocks in the finale, Northwestern State dropped a pair of matches during Friday's first day of the Lone Star Showdown at Texas Tech.
 
NSU (2-10) was swept 3-0 by Washington State in its opening match and fell 3-2 to Portland State in the nightcap despite a season-best 15 total blocks.
 
"It is not easy to play back-to-back matches against teams that play at different speeds or are very different physically, and we have had to do that in consecutive weekends," first-year coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We did a better job this time around switching gears to adjust from a physical Pac-12 school and scrappier Portland State."
 
Northwestern State took a 2-1 lead against Portland State, holding on for a 25-23 win in Set 1 and taking a 25-20 Set 3 victory. NSU led Portland State (4-7) 23-21 in the fourth set before the Vikings rallied with four straight points to extend the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
The teams split the first 10 points of the tiebreaking set before Portland State took control of the match with a 6-2 run. PSU grabbed a 15-11 victory in the fifth set, handing NSU its first loss in a five-set match this season. Portland State won Set 2, 25-19.
 
In its Sept. 1 home opener, Northwestern State rallied from a 2-1 deficit to upend UL Lafayette in five sets.
 
Amanda Kunz led the NSU defense with nine total blocks (1 solo, 8 assists), while Glynna Johnson chipped in six (1 solo, 5 assists). Six NSU players recorded at least two block assists as Northwestern State surpassed its earlier season high of nine blocks against UL Lafayette.
 
Lauren Agan led NSU with 10 kills against Portland State, while Reagan Rogers added nine and Kunz and Caiti O'Connell each tallied eight kills. Eva Linden led Portland State with a match-high 16 kills but was forced into 14 errors by the NSU defense and hit just .044.
 
"We played well statistically and are finding ways to put ourselves in a position to win, but we have to figure out how to close out and put teams away," Kiracofe said. "We're getting there and, like I have said before, using these situations against tough preseason teams will make sure we are ready for conference."
 
In its tournament opener, NSU took Washington State (9-1) to the limit in the first set before falling 25-23. The Pac-12's Cougars then notched a 25-14 Set 2 victory before closing things out with a 25-22 victory in Set 3.
 
Washington State served up nine aces in the match and its defense held NSU to an .099 hitting percentage as a team. Agan led the NSU offense with nine kills and chipped in 10 digs, while Glynna Johnson tallied seven kills on just nine attempts for a .778 hitting percentage. Johnson's hitting percentage ranks third in school history in for a single match.  
 
Northwestern State wraps up regular-season tournament play at 1:30 p.m. Saturday when they face tournament host Texas Tech. NSU opens Southland Conference play at home against McNeese State on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.