HAMMOND – It took a little over a set for Northwestern State to find its playing rhythm in Thursday night's Southland Conference opener against Southeastern. Once it did the match was much more contested but ultimately ended in a 3-0 (25-13, 29-27, 25-20) loss to open league play. 
 
"SLU is one of the best teams in the conference this year," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "They can create many matchup issues in all six rotations. In addition to those match up issues, they don't make many unforced errors so opposing teams need to earn every point they get."
 
The Lady Demons (4-4, 0-1) quickly put the out-of-sync 25-13 opening set loss behind them with an early four-point swing to seize the early momentum in the second set. 
 
One of the keys of the night was the effective on both sides from the serving line. Piper Boydstun placed back-to-back aces in the 4-0 run, which was capped by a Jordan Gamble and Addison McDermott block, to give NSU the 10-7 lead.
 
After the Lions leapt ahead on a quick three-point burst, the Demons put together one of their best stretches of the night behind the serves of Laura Weatherford. Seven straight points went the way of NSU with kills from Symone Wesley and Reaghan Thompson as well as a pair of combo blocks from Thompson and Perry Flannigan.
 
Weatherford capped the run with an ace to give NSU a 20-15 lead.
 
The Demons worked their way to set point after consecutive kills from Gamble but were unable to secure the needed set. Four straight Lion kills forced extra serves where the teams traded points until the 27-27 mark.
 
Two NSU errors, one from the service line and one from an attack, were the final blows that gave SLU the 2-0 lead in the match.
 
"We got exposed in some areas of our game, primarily ball control, after that first run of points in the first set that made things difficult for us," Kiracofe said. "Going into the second set our first contact was better and we showed that we're going to win a lot of physical battles at the next. 
 
"Offensive was easier to come by and we were blocking great against talented attackers. When we can go control the ball, we're going to be able to play with anyone, but we're not consistently at that point yet."
 
Despite seeing the second set slip through their fingers and falling behind early in the third, the Lady Demons were able to erase a six-point deficit by the middle of the set.
 
Thompson and Burrell scorched kills in the 4-0 run that evened the game at 15 and forced a Lion timeout.
 
As he did all night, SLU's Jeremy White had just the words his team needed to lock back in after an NSU run. SLU scored the next four straight with a pair of kills and a pair of aces to jump back ahead and used an 8-2 run to take control of the final set and win the first match of the Southland season.
 
"We made a good team sub starters out and change their offensive system," Kiracofe said. "Now it's a matter of finding consistency and closing out games against quality teams."
 
For the seventh time this season the Lady Demons won the battle at the net with eight blocks to SLU's one. Thompson led the NSU block with six in the match, her fifth match this season with four or more rejections. 
 
The freshman also led the team in kills with seven, followed by Burrell's six.
 
The Lady Demons continue play in Hammond on Friday as they take on Louisiana Tech at 4 p.m.