OXFORD, Mississippi – The Northwestern State volleyball team suffered its third loss of the week Friday afternoon, falling to Austin Peay 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 16-25, 15-10) to close the Rebel Classic.
 
The Lady Demons competed in two hard-fought matches on Friday, dropping both to Ole Miss and Mercer.
 
"There was definitely a hangover from last night's match going into the game versus Austin Peay," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "It takes a little while longer than just the standing 8 count to get back to yourself."
 
Down 2-1 and seeming to have few answers for Austin Peay, NSU rallied and built a quick 8-3 lead in the fourth set. The Lady Demons controlled the set and later went on a six-point run to extend the NSU lead to 22-11.
 
"We loosened up and got back to ourselves in the fourth set," Kiracofe said. "Fifth sets are tricky and we just made a couple aggressive mistakes that ended up costing us."
 
Both teams traded points in the final set until the Governors went on a 5-0 run with the match tied at 4. Up 9-4, Austin Peay did enough to hold onto the lead and win the match.
 
A pair of young players excelled for the Lady Demons' offense. Sophomore Kourtney Seaton and freshman Hannah Brister combined for 27 kills and a .523 hitting percentage against the Governors.
 
Brister knocked down double-digit kills for the first time in her collegiate career and led the match with 14 kills and a .619 hitting percentage.
 
"Hannah had a great match and I wish we could have got her the ball more," Kiracofe said. "While she's one of our most versatile players, she had that great match not being in her natural position."
 
With 12 kills in the match, outside hitter Reagan Rogers eclipsed 100 kills for the season with a team-high 103 kills.
 
Nearing a career milestone of 1,000 digs, libero Channing Burleson also recorded a personal season-high against Austin Peay with 22 digs. Burleson is now 40 digs away from the 1,000-dig mark.
 
The Lady Demons will play in Louisiana for the first time this season with an upcoming trip to UL Monroe on Tuesday and another to New Orleans on Friday to participate in the Tulane Invitational over the weekend.
 
"I think being back in Louisiana for the next 4 matches is all we are going to need to get on track going into the conference schedule," Kiracofe said.
 
NSU begins conference play on Sept. 21 at Lamar.