BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The beginning of the end to the busiest stretch of the Northwestern State volleyball team's season started beautifully.
 
The closing act was not as aesthetically pleasing as the Lady Demons posted a second straight split at the UAB Blazer Invitational.
 
Northwestern State (4-5) opened its second straight doubleheader with its first sweep of the season, downing host UAB, 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-17), before falling to Tennessee Tech, 3-0 (26-24, 27-25, 25-19), in the nightcap.
 
In the opener, Northwestern State enjoyed its best offensive match of the season, hitting a season-high .317 in sweeping the tournament host Blazers.
 
NSU never hit less than .270 in any set and improved its hitting percentage in each of the three sets, topping out at .364 in the final set.
 
The Lady Demons kept UAB (2-4) from establishing an offensive rhythm of its own, limiting the Blazers to a .136 hitting percentage.
 
Northwestern State spread the offense around with five players recording at least seven kills each. Lauren Agan paced the Lady Demons with 11 kills while Alexis Warren added 10 and 11 digs for a double-double.
 
Abby Gardea (8), Madeline Drake (7) and Kourtney Seaton (7) rounded out the balanced offensive effort.
 
"Our offense made some big improvements over the last week," second-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "The middles stepped up when we needed them and then, as the weekend went on, Abby started to produce on the right. It took some pressure off our lefts, but both Lauren and Alexis were there when we needed them."
 
Channing Burleson paced the NSU defense in the opener with 15 digs.
 
In the nightcap, NSU had its chances to close out the Golden Eagles in both the first and second sets before Tennessee Tech completed a late first-set comeback and snuffed out a potential Lady Demons rally in the second set.
 
"We had set point in both the first and second sets," Kiracofe said. "We just didn't' have the legs to close those sets out. Next time around, I think there will be a sense of urgency to end the set and keep teams from stealing one from you."
 
Reagan Rogers came off the bench to deliver seven kills over the final two sets to share the team lead with Kourtney Seaton. Burleson collected 26 digs in the three-set match, giving her 125 in the past six matches (22 sets).
 
Despite missing a chance to sweep either day in Birmingham, Kiracofe was pleased with how his team responded to a heavy amount of matches in a short time.
 
"This long week turned out to be a great one for us," he said. "There was a lot of growth as a team and we checked off a lot of accomplishments that should help us later on in the season."