HOUSTON – Northwestern State overcame a Houston Baptist run in the first set of Thursday night's Southland Conference volleyball match.
 
The Lady Demons continued to live dangerously following a narrow first-set victory, but eventually the danger caught up with Northwestern State.
 
Houston Baptist utilized big scoring runs in each of the following three sets to clinch a 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-18, 25-22) victory against Northwestern State, snapping NSU's three-match road win streak.
 
"Houston Baptist started serving more aggressively in the second set, and we struggled to adjust," second-year coach Sean Kiracofe said. "Even with that, I felt we were in a position to take the second set to go up 2-0 at the break. Once HBU evened it up by winning the second, they settled down and really made it difficult on us."
 
Trailing by a set and down 24-18, NSU (9-12, 4-2) put together one of its best stretches of the final three sets, highlighted by a trio of Victoria Harris kills off the bench.
 
The Lady Demons cut the lead to 24-22 before Bailey Banks ended the match with her 17^th kill of the night.
 
After NSU broke to a 10-3 lead in the opening set, the Huskies (12-8, 3-1) put together a 6-0 run to get back into the first set. It was one of three instances during the first three sets in which Houston Baptist ran off at least five consecutive points.
 
Both teams put up strong blocks with Northwestern State tying a season-high with 11 blocks, led by six block assists from Kourtney Seaton. Behind a solo block and 10 assists from Blair Gillard, the Huskies totaled 15.5 blocks, a season high for a Northwestern State opponent.
 
HBU's blocking prowess helped limit Northwestern State to an .087 hitting percentage, helping the Huskies hand the Lady Demons their first road loss of Southland Conference play.
 
Despite hitting negatively in the second set, HBU recovered and topped .275 in each of the final two sets.
 
"As aggressive as HBU was, we gave up more unforced errors on net calls than we have in a while," Kiracofe said. "HBU progressively got more consistent, and we could not match that tonight."
 
Alexis Warren led NSU with 13 kills and added 16 digs for a double-double while Kourtney Seaton added 11 kills on a team-best .261 hitting percentage.
 
Banks' 17 kills paced three Huskies in double figures as Ashlee Vann (13) and Bailey Banks (12) also delivered more than 10 kills.
 
Northwestern State returns to action Saturday at 1 p.m. when it heads to Beaumont, Texas, to face Lamar at 1 p.m. Saturday.