NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Northwestern State volleyball team fell 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-12, 25-9) on the road Saturday afternoon, unable to match Stephen F. Austin's pace in the closing sets.
 
The Lady Demons (5-11, 1-1 Southland) kept the match competitive early as the team secured the opening set.
 
NSU found spots to put attacks down, and made it difficult for the Ladyjacks (14-4, 2-0) to do the same in the opening set. The Lady Demons hit .323 while blocking three SFA attacks, holding the Ladyjacks to a .159 hitting percentage.
 
Needing four digs to overtake the No. 7 spot in the Lady Demons record book for career digs, libero Channing Burleson wasted little time to reach the milestone. The junior from Midland, Texas, laid out for the ball eight times in the first set.
 
"I'd argue that we were not at our best in the first set," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We didn't handle some easy balls like we have been but settled down and cleaned things up at the end of the first to take the set."
 
Before the match's end, Burleson climbed to No. 6 all-time at 1078 as she recorded a match-high 22 digs. She is just 22 digs from fifth in the NSU career record book.
 
Freshman Hannah Brister led the Lady Demons with four kills in the first set while middle blocker Madeline Drake was involved in all three blocks.
 
Drake finished the match with a team-high four blocks.
 
In the second set, NSU held the Ladyjacks within striking distance, trading points until the set was tied at 9.  SFA then went on a 3-0 run to make it 12-9. The Lady Demons kept the score close midway through the set, but ultimately dropped the set 25-17.
 
"It was good to see that SFA came out cautious in the second set, but we didn't take advantage of it like we did at the end of the first," Kiracofe said. "We we're playing ok but never had a run that we needed to take the second set to go up 2-0."
 
SFA built momentum off the second-set win, taking the third set 25-12 and the final set 25-9. The Ladyjacks hit .393 and .407 in the two sets, respectively.
 
"We let them start running downhill in the third and fourth and made it too easy for them," Kiracofe said. "A little better ball control would have allowed us to put some pressure on them which would have put them back in the position they were in the first.
 
"We did a lot of good things today against one of the best teams in the conference. Even though we left with a bad taste in our mouth, it tells me that we can play with anyone."
 
The Lady Demons return home for the first time this season to face Alcorn on Thursday at 1 p.m. NSU swept Alcorn on the road in August.