STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Northwestern State opened the 2022 season with a pair of highly competitive and closely contested matches.

The Lady Demons (1-1) were able to pull away late in the season opener against ULM to take a 3-2 (25-27, 25-19, 22-25, 25-13, 15-8) win over their in-stat rival before falling to the host Tarleton in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-17).

NSU 3, ULM 2

After very little separated the two Louisiana schools through the first three sets, NSU cruised to a 25-13 win in the fourth, continuing the offensive efficiency it started in a zero-error third, with a match-best 14 kills in the frame. A 7-1 run in the fifth gave the Lady Demons all the cushion they needed to get the season-opening victory.

"What a great match to start the season, and this group is only going to continue to improve," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "Ashlyn (Svoboda) and Symone (Wesley) really stepped up defensively and in serve receive as we got into the later sets.
 
"Brea (Burrell) was solid offensively from start to finish but when we needed more offense, both freshmen middles took over and forced Monroe to commit to them. I could go up and down the roster and say how everyone had a positive contribution to the win. Just a great overall team effort and excited for how we build from here."

The Lady Demons were poised to take a 2-1 lead in the match after a late third-set rally featuring kills from Burell and freshman Reaghan Thompson tied the game at 21. ULM responded with four of the next five points, including a 3-0 run to close the set and put NSU's back against the wall down two sets to one.

Despite losing the set, NSU went error free on the attack during the third and carried that efficiency with them they rest of the match.

They jumped to an early 6-1 lead in the pivotal fourth and after another 6-2 stretch later had doubled the Warhawks score after a kill from freshman Jordan Gamble. NSU made just one attack error the rest of the set with eight kills spread out among four players lead by Burrell's three and Addison McDermott and Thompson's two each.

Gamble provided a pair of early kills in the decisive fifth set to put the Demons ahead. The offense then handed the keys to Burrell to bring them home. The sophomore bomber had three straight kills that pushed the lead to 8-4 in the race to 15 and the win.

Two different 3-0 bursts by NSU helped secured the win as Burrell led all players with 17 kills on just two errors, Amina Attra led all players with 23 assists and Ashlyn Svoboda led with 25 digs.

In their first collegiate matches, Thompson finished with 11 kills and five blocks and Gamble had six kills on 13 error-free swings with three blocks and five aces.

Tarleton 3, NSU 0

Following the intensity of the five-set win earlier in the day, the Lady Demons stared into the face of a raucous crowd in the night cap matching that intensity on the floor.

NSU jumped ahead 10-5 in the first set thanks to a couple of blocks and some Tarleton attack errors. The Texans however, began to settle into the match, rattling off four straight points and seven out of eight overall to take the 12-11 lead.

Three freshmen continued to make an early impact as later in the set Thompson had a kill and solo block while Gamble and Madisynne McQueen combined for another block that made it a one-point game at 18-17. NSU could not quite get over the hump down the stretch in the first however, pulling within a point again at 23-22 after another block from Thompson and McDermott, before dropping the opener 25-22.

Just like they did in the first, the Lady Demons held early leads in both the second and third sets and were within two points of the Texans as they reached the midway mark of each set.

The difference down the stretch in both sets was the inability of the NSU offense to string together runs of points like it did in the first match and first set. The aggressive nature of the Tarleton serve, which had nine of its 13 total aces in the final two sets, limited the NSU chances to be on the attack first.

The Texans closed the second set out with a 4-1 run and ended the match on a 5-2 stretch in the third.

Wesley and Thompson led NSU with six kills each in the match with Thompson adding four more blocks to her impressive first-day total of nine.

NSU closes its first weekend of competition with Fairleigh Dickinson at 1 p.m. on Saturday.