TROY, Alabama – The Northwestern State volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday. The Lady Demons dropped the opening match of the Troy Invitational to Winthrop 3-2 in five tightly contested sets, but rallied to sweep Troy with an impressive defensive showing.

Winthrop 3, NSU 2 (19-25, 25-17, 17-25, 29-27, 15-11)

Both sides put up mirror-like numbers in the match and neither team built a substantial lead in any of the five sets.

"It was a good back-and-forth match with both teams having great moments," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said.
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NSU recorded 56 kills (.200 hitting percentage), while the Eagles put down 59 (.208). Both teams recorded 64 digs and blocked eight shots. The margin of error was razor thin in order for either team to pull out the victory.

Sophomore Megan Lohmiller recorded a match-high and career-high five aces as the Lady Demons strung together 15 aces as a team.

The Lady Demons (1-4) jumped to an early lead in the match by taking the first set, 25-19. The six-point differential was created by seven aces from Lady Demons servers, led by three from Madeline Drake. 
Winthrop took the second set 25-17, but the Lady Demons rallied and won the third set with an identical score.

The Lady Demons offense dominated in the third set. NSU attackers hit .417 while middle blocker Kourtney Seaton led the way with a .800 hitting percentage on five attacks. Outside hitters Reagan Rogers and Alexis Warren also had four and five kills respectively in the set.
Warren finished with a season-best 21 kills, finishing one shy of tying her career high.

Trailing 21-18 in the fourth and potentially final set, NSU pulled out another rally, winning the next five points to take a 23-21 lead. As was par for the course for the entire match, Winthrop answered and forced the set into extra points before finally getting the 29-27 win.

"I was happy that we put ourselves in a position to win in four against a good team," Kiracofe said. "Now we need to close out those matches when we have the chance."

In the final set to 15, Winthrop started hot, building a 4-1 lead. Once again, the Lady Demons gathered themselves and evened the score at six. Both teams went shot-for-shot for four points to bring the score to 8-8.

Winthrop began to slowly pull away at 10-8 and finished the set at 15-11.

"Winthrop has some young players, but the program has been used to winning matches," Kiracofe said. "That confidence helped carry them through a close match. "I was happy that we put ourselves in a position to win in four against a good team. Now we need to close out those matches when we have chance."

NSU 3, Troy 0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-16)

Following a disappointing five set loss earlier in the day, the Lady Demons put on their all-black uniforms and became a defensive juggernaut in the night match of the Friday double feature.

The Lady Demons' defense was on full display as NSU held Troy to a .063 hitting percentage.

NSU made several miraculous digs to extend rallies and force the Trojans into blocked shots and hitting errors.

Middle blocker Kourtney Seaton and outside hitter Reagan Rogers continue to be productive scorers for third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe's team.

Seaton recorded eight kills and three block assists while Rogers hit .522 and led the match with 12 kills.

"We had some good matchups for Kourtney that she took advantage of," Kiracofe said. "Reagan bounced back from this morning to create some offense for herself in some difficult situations."

The opening set was a model of competitiveness. With both teams answering shot after shot, the score was tied at every point up to 13 except when Troy built a 9-7 lead that NSU swiftly tied again.

The set remained close throughout with the Lady Demons finally breaking a 22-22 tie and closing out the set at 25-22.

In the second set, Troy picked up five quick kills and raced out to an 8-2 lead.

"Troy had a great environment in the gym and came out strong in the second," Kiracofe said. "Some of that early lead was from our errors, but a lot of it was how Troy came out to fight."

Following a timeout, NSU mounted a comeback and went on a tear. Facing a 14-11 deficit, the Lady Demons responded with a 14-4 run and picked up the 2-0 match lead.

Said Kiracofe: "I was very proud of the team for being able to settle down, flip a switch, and get back to focusing on one point at a time."

Stellar defense spurred the rally as NSU kept rallies going with great digs, forcing Troy into a handful of difficult shot attempts.

"(Junior libero) Channing (Burleson) really stepped up and made some amazing plays to keep rallies alive," Kiracofe said. "This was one of her better matches so far."

"(Defensive specialist) Megan (Lohmiller) was also great on defense and started that run in the 3rd set to allow us to put the match away."

With a 2-0 lead heading into the potential clinching set, the Lady Demons were the ones to start hot, jumping out to a 13-4 lead. Troy mustered an attempt at a comeback, but up 21-15, the Lady Demons turned up the pressure once again to close out the match with a 25-16 third-set victory.

The Lady Demons have a short turnaround as they face Jackson State at 1 p.m. Saturday to wrap up the Troy Invitational.