NORMAN, Oklahoma – The Northwestern State volleyball team opened the 2017 season with the opening matchup of the NIKE Invitational against Colorado, falling 3-1 Friday afternoon.
Middle blocker
Madeline Drake had a successful first night in her home state of Oklahoma. The Tulsa native recorded a .300 hitting percentage, providing consistent production in all four sets.
Early pressure from outside hitters,
Alexis Warren and
Reagan Rogers, allowed the middle blockers, Drake and
Kourtney Seaton to be more effective in the second set.
Warren and Rogers combined for 23 attempted attacks in the opening set for NSU.
Despite the amount of attempts from the Lady Demons, Colorado took the first set 25-14, leaning on a .417 hitting percentage to get the early lead.
"The early production from Reagan and Alexis opened things up for both middles to start scoring for us," third-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "I have to give Kourtney and Madeline credit, when Colorado adjusted and started to pull their block back in to take away the middle of the court, the middles still found a way to keep scoring."
Drake picked up two important kills towards the middle of the set to keep the match close while Seaton turned it on late.
Down 26-25 in the second set, Seaton delivered three consecutive kills to clinch the win.
Colorado won the final two sets 25-17 and 25-15, unable to build large leads until late in the sets.
"We went into the match stressing to focus on the things we could control – effort being one of those," Kiracofe said. "A common and basic request, but something that really matters when you're playing a big team like Colorado.
"Outside of a few moments, the team gave more than was expected. Something like that is going to pay off for the rest of the season."
The Lady Demons will return to the court Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to face NIKE Invitational host Oklahoma.
The contest against Oklahoma can be viewed live on TV on Fox Sports Oklahoma and Fox College Sports Central and streamed on FoxSportsGo and SoonerSports.tv.
Following the Oklahoma match, the Lady Demons will take on Seton Hall at 4:30 p.m. to close the tournament.
Follow updates all season on Twitter @NSUdemonsVB.
