OXFORD, Mississippi – The Northwestern State volleyball team started quickly in both matches Thursday, keeping pace with Ole Miss early and taking the first set against Mercer.
Ole Miss 3, NSU 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-19)
Host Ole Miss pulled away and swept the Lady Demons in the opening match of the Ole Miss Classic.
"We were not aggressive enough in out-of-system situations compared to how we have played the previous weekends, and that just made it easy for Ole Miss," third-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "In the second set, we didn't allow ourselves to even think about being aggressive, so that explained the score."
Regan Rogers continued her strong start to the season, pacing Northwestern State (3-5) with eight kills, seven of which came in the first two sets.
Because of Rogers' early effectiveness, the Rebels (5-3) began to key on her, allowing middle blockers
Kourtney Seaton and
Madeline Drake to find success later in the match.
After dropping the first two sets, the Lady Demons grabbed a 4-3 lead early in the third set and appeared to go ahead 5-3 when Emily Stroup's attack was ruled to be out of bounds. Ole Miss challenged the call, and it was reversed, tying the final set at 4.
The Rebels took advantage, scoring nine of the next 13 points to take a 13-8 lead.
Undaunted, Northwestern State rallied behind Seaton (five kills, .556 hitting percentage) and Drake (five total blocks) to close within three on a couple of occasions before the Rebels finished the sweep.
"We finally came around and started to execute with the middles toward the end of the match, and both Kourtney and Madeline finished well," Kiracofe said.
Channing Burleson turned in a match-high 15 digs for NSU, which also outblocked Ole Miss 6-5. Drake had a match-best four block assists and five total blocks.
Said Kiracofe: "We blocked well against a 6-2 that had quality attackers across the net in every rotation and defended well, so I was happy with that. Creating long rallies is where I thought we could gain an advantage. We did that but didn't get ourselves in good positions to end the rally. We did a lot of good things, but they didn't show up as points unfortunately."
Mercer 3, NSU 1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-15)
The Lady Demons dropped its second match of the day, suffering a 3-1 defeat to Mercer.
NSU (3-6) started the match with a first-set win. NSU broke open a 14-14 tie with a 4-0 run spurred by a pair of kills from middle blocker
Kourtney Seaton and an ace from
Alexis Warren.
Mercer brought the set close again at 21-18, NSU, but the Lady Demons demonstrated their ability to close sets with a four-point rally to take opening set 25-18.
NSU dominated Mercer (4-2) in the first set, outhitting the bears .321 to .185.
In the second set, the Lady Demons found themselves down 20-16. Needing a rally to get back into the set,
Reagan Rogers picked up two kills and an ace as NSU took a 23-21 lead.
The two-point lead failed to hold as Mercer put up the final four points of the set for a 25-23 victory to even the match at 1.
Mercer took momentum from the second-set victory and used it to build a 21-13 lead in the third set. Down 24-16, the Lady Demons took four straight points, but the Bears needed just one to finish the set and got it with a kill from Maria Avramova.
In the fourth set, the Lady Demons had few answers for Mercer as they built an early 12-5 lead and held on to win 25-15.
Freshman outside hitter
Hannah Brister and Rogers led the Lady Demons in kills for the match at nine each while middle blockers
Madeline Drake and Seaton picked up eight and seven, respectively. Drake added a season-high six block assists against the Bears, equaling her career high.
Seaton was efficient in the afternoon match, recording seven kills and only one error on 18 attempts for a .333 hitting percentage.
The Lady Demons look to rebound with another midafternoon tilt against Austin Peay to conclude play at the Rebel Classic. First serve against the Governors is set for 3 p.m. Follow live updates on Twitter @NSUDemonsVB.
