Lady Demon Volleyball | 9/7/2018 6:47:00 PM
Box Score TULSA, Oklahoma – The Northwestern State volleyball team enjoyed a fast start Friday in the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational.
Oral Roberts, however, enjoyed more sustained success throughout the opening match of the tournament.
After the Lady Demons held on for a first-set victory, the Golden Eagles responded to take the next three sets and claim the match 3-1 (20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-19), snapping Northwestern State's four-match win streak.
"ORU cleaned some things up after set one, but we just had an off night with the exception of (Madeline) Drake," fourth-year head coach
Sean Kiracofe said. "From the start of set two to the finish of the match, we had errors that we haven't made this season. With the depth we have, it was disappointing that we couldn't find a lineup that could settle things down."
The Lady Demons (4-3) broke quickly in the match, holding off the Golden Eagles (3-4) in the first set. The momentum Oral Roberts gathered late in the set continued throughout the match.
After using a 6-1 run late in the second set to even the match, Oral Roberts started the third set by scoring 10 of the first 11 points before Northwestern State pulled within 11-7 on a
Megan Lohmiller ace.
Playing in her hometown, Drake delivered an efficient performance on an otherwise inefficient offensive day for the Lady Demons.
Drake had a team-high 11 kills, committing only one error, in 21 attempts. Even with Drake's big performance, Northwestern State hit .106 for the match, the second-lowest total of the season.
In the final set, junior setter
Cayman Sutton came in and began to find a connection with Drake and
Kourtney Seaton (six kills, .333 hitting percentage) in the middle.
"Cayman went in and set a good offense, but none of our attackers could get it back together at that point," Kiracofe said.
Appearing in the fourth match of her first season at the Division I level, Sutton finished with a career-high 16 assists in two sets of action.
Northwestern State returns to action Saturday morning at 11 when they face tournament host Tulsa in its second and final match of the tournament.
