FORT WORTH, Texas – The Northwestern State volleyball team started fast on Friday's first day of the TCU Invitational.
 
The finishes of the two matches, however, were not what the Lady Demons would prefer.
 
NSU dropped both of its matches Friday, falling to North Carolina State and Arkansas State by identical 3-0 scores.
 
In the opener, two big runs by North Carolina State proved too much to overcome.
 
After dropping a tight back-and-forth first set, the Lady Demons saw the Wolfpack put together two momentum-shifting runs in sets two and three of NC State's 3-0 (25-22, 25-10, 25-19) victory at the TCU Invitational.
 
Opening the season with four players making their first career starts, the Lady Demons (0-2) stayed with the Wolfpack in the opening set.
 
"The first set was everything I could have hoped for with the season opener against a big, athletic Power Five school," second-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We passed well and, more importantly, our defense really stepped up and gave us a lot of transition opportunities."
 
Because of those transition opportunities, NSU was able to produce its best single-set offensive output of the match, hitting .079. After falling behind 16-9, NSU rattled off four straight points and eight of 11 to pull within 19-17.  
 
Kills by Lauren Agan and Abby Gardea twice pulled the Lady Demons within two points, the last at 24-22, before the Wolfpack got a set-clinching kill from Lauryn Terry.
 
NSU maintained its momentum into the second set as Kylie Spencer's first ace of the season cut NC State's lead to 13-9 before the Wolfpack used a 10-0 run to take control of the set and the match.
 
Undeterred, Northwestern State started the third set quickly, building its largest lead of the match – a four-point lead at 8-4 – on consecutive kills by Madeline Drake. Once again, NC State answered.
 
After a Grace Irvin service error gave NSU a 10-7 lead, the Wolfpack ran off five straight points. The Lady Demons battled back and pulled within one on two occasions before a quick three-point Wolfpack spurt put NC State up 21-17, setting up the sweep.
 
"The second set saw our freshmen on the court do a lot of freshman things, and it all just combined in that second set," Kiracofe said. "That was inevitably going to happen for any newcomers, but we spoke about it and I felt they did a great job calming down and rebounding in the third."
 
Making their first career starts, Alexis Warren and Gardea led the NSU offense with five kills apiece. Natalie Jaeger handed out 15 assists while Channing Burleson, in her first start as a libero, chipped in 13 digs. Drake notched a career-best five block assists to pace the Lady Demons' front-line defense.
 
The nightcap followed a somewhat similar script with NSU putting together its best set in the opener, regressing in the second and recovering with a solid third set.
 
The Lady Demons dropped the opening set, 25-19, to the 2015 NCAA Tournament participants before Arkansas State (1-0) closed out the match with a 25-15 second-set win and a 25-16 clincher in the third set.
 
"Arkansas State runs a ridiculously fast offense and relentless defense," Kiracofe said. "It is a very different type of volleyball compared to the majority of teams we will see. If you don't see that offensive speed on a regular basis, it can be difficult to adjust to. As difficult as it could have been, our defense stepped up for the second time in as many opportunities and really played well. I feel we have a lot of offensive weapons, but there were times where we didn't take advantage of the opportunities our defense has given us. We have already seen the offense do some great things in preseason camp, and I know it won't take long to start clicking."
 
Lauren Agan and Alexis Warren paced the NSU offense with seven kills each against Arkansas State while Jaeger had a double-double of 17 assists and 10 digs. Burleson added 16 digs while freshman Megan Lohmiller added 10.
 
Arkansas State, which hit .316 for the match, got a match-high 14 kills in 21 attempts from Carlisa May and 11 from Drew Jones. Mallory Washington handed out 37 assists and added 11 digs for a double-double.
 
After dropping the first two sets to the Red Wolves, the Lady Demons put together their best offensive set of the season's opening day, delivering a .222 hitting percentage (10 kills, 4 errrors on 27 attacks).
 
Northwestern State concludes TCU Invitational play Saturday at 10 a.m. against Boise State.