MOBILE, Alabama -- Northwestern State volleyball gained two different kinds of experience on Friday at the South Alabama Jaguar Invitational.
The Lady Demons saw different players in different positions perform well in a 3-0 sweep of Mississippi Valley State, and learned more about their fight and resilience in a 3-1 loss to South Alabama.
Northwestern State 3, Mississippi Valley State 0
The Lady Demons showcased the depth and quality of the roster in the first match of the day. Even without Hannah Brister and Alexis Warren in the lineup, NSU did not miss a beat and dominated played from the first point to the last.
"We were fortunate to get some extended playing time and experience for a lot of the team," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "While there were a few rough spots everyone stepped up and did a lot of good things. We have a lot of players that can help us in different ways but match experience is different than practice so it was great that we got that opportunity."
NSU got out to a blistering start, with multiple long services stretches, that made the first set a runaway 25-7 win. Megan Lohmiller set the tone with her opening service leading to six straight Lady Demon points. Freshman Haley Hoang had a stretch that saw four straight and Charli Fouts six consecutive serves.
The second set wasn't much different as the Lady Demons had five instances of runs of three or four straight points. The combination of a strong NSU attack and multiple attack, setting, service, and ball handling errors by MVSU put the writing on the wall fairly early. The Lady Demons took the commanding 2-0 lead with a 25-14 second frame.
Another quick start in the third, getting out to a 10-3 lead on a 4-0 run off the serve of Cayman Sutton, the Lady Demons again showed their dominance in the match.
NSU hit .380 for the match, including an incredible .579 percentage in the first set with 12 kills on 19 attempts with just one error. Four players finished with five or more kills for the Lady Demons, led by Charli Fouts' 10, missing her first double-double of the season by one dig.
South Alabama 3, Northwestern State 1
It was the speed of the South Alabama offense that was of most concern for the Lady Demons on Friday. The Jaguars would sprint to a 2-0 match lead with wins of 25-18 and 25-14 in the first two sets before NSU found their feet.
"USA runs a fast offense and has a lot of talent," Kiracofe said. "There were some adjustments we needed to make to defend them and it took us a while to both make those adjustments and be consistent with them. USA also did a good job of recognizing some things we were doing and then making tweaks."
Needing to put together a string of good play to stave off a sweep, the Lady Demons settled into the pace of the match and found a good rhythm. Trailing 11-9, NSU made their first push towards extending the match with an 8-1 run.
Thanks to a pair of aces from Haley Hoang and Alexis Warren, along with kills from Hannah Brister and Kourtney Seaton, NSU would take a 17-12 lead.
USA closed the gap late, getting within a pair at 22-20, but two clutch kills from Warren gave the Lady Demons set-point. A Jaguar attack error ended the set and sent things to what would be an exciting fourth set.
NSU had a slim 18-16 lead when the teams went point-for-point until the Lady Demons reached their first set-point at 24-22. The Jaguars rallied for three straight, reaching their first match-point at 25-24.
The Lady Demons held off four different match points and were denied two set-points that would have forced a decisive fifth set. The Lady Demons committed 10 service errors in the match, including two critical ones that extended the set, giving the Jaguars a chance to close things out.
After a Warren kill that made it 34-33, USA would find back-to-back kills before the final bounce would go their way. A valiant effort by Darria Williams to keep the ball alive fell short and the Lady Demons would not get the fifth set they fought for.
"Take away a few mistakes at the end of the fourth and I liked our chances going into five," Kiracofe said. "There are moments that will be learned from on video, but I'm proud once again that we fought to get back in the match, and give ourselves a chance to win against a good team on their home court."
Hannah Brister led all players with 22 kills, adding a team-best 13 digs for her third double-double of the season. Warren was the only other Lady Demon to reach double figures with 14 kills. Megan Lohmiller had 10 digs and Skylar Besch added 15 assists.
NSU closes its weekend at 11:30 a.m. Saturday against Tennessee State.
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