STARKVILLE, Miss. – Northwestern State was unable to find the finishing touch in a pair of opening-day losses at the StarkVegas Classic on Friday.
 
The Demons (0-2) battled through some first-match and early-morning malaise to win the third set against Eastern Kentucky, but ultimately fell to the Colonels 3-1 (25-20, 25-17, 27-29, 25-17). After a tense opening set with in-state foe UL Lafayette in the second match that the Cajuns pulled out 27-25, the Demons were unable to finish late leads and rallies in the 3-0 (27-25, 25-20, 25-20) loss.
 
EKU 3, NSU 1
 
The Demons showed the resilience they became synonymous with a year ago to erase a double-digit deficit in the first set. Newcomer Teresa Garza helped fuel a 10-2 run with some key blocks and kills to within four of EKU at 23-19. Two kills though after a run-stopping timeout gave the Colonels the first set despite all the momentum sitting with the Demons.
 
NSU opened the second with three straight kills from Symone Wesley, Tessa Gerwig and Garza to take the early edge. A 5-0 EKU run a few serves later gave it the lead and put the offense in full motion to the tune of 22 kills in the set and a 2-0 match lead.
 
Trailing for most of the third set, the Demons once again found themselves up against a 23-19 score line like they did in the first. This time however the pair of transfer Demons helped push NSU over the top.
 
Gerwig and Garza each picked up a pair of kills that erased the gap and held off the first match point to even the score at 24. NSU held off two more match points in extra serves allowing Reaghan Thompson and Breanna Burrell the chance to get kills of their own to leading to an EKU error that sent the match to a fourth set.
 
The Colonels used an 8-1 run in the final set to flip the score and seize enough momentum to carry them to the needed 25 points to win the set and the match. They had their second-best hitting percentage of the match in the fourth at .270 with 15 kills on 37 swings.
 
In her first match as a Demon, Garza finished with 10 kills to lead the team and Piper Boydstun got the team's first double-double of the season with 18 assists and 11 digs. Thompson finished with nine kills and six blocks.
 
ULL 3, NSU 0
 
After very little separation deep into the first set between the two Louisiana schools playing in the StarkVegas Classic, it was the Cajuns that made the first move to create some distance with a 6-2 run to take the lead.
 
Once again facing a 23-19 score line, the Demons rallied late in the set.
 
A Garza kill, Thompson and Burrell block and an ace from Amina Attra brought NSU back within a point in the blink of an eye. A Thompson kill two serves later held off set point and the Demons earned their first set point of the match with another quick 3-0 burst after a kill from Burrell.
 
The wild effort fell short once again however as the Cajuns answered with a 3-0 run of their own, finishing the first with a kill and an ace to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
 
The Demons played from behind for the entirety of the second set, trailing by as much as five early on, but worked their way back to tie the set on five different occasions between the 10^th and 17^th points. Garza, Gerwig, Wesley and Burrell all provide set-tying kills during the middle part of the set, but the Demons were unable to get the next kill that would push them into the lead.
 
Tied at 17 the Cajuns moved ahead thanks to an 8-3 run, getting two straight kills to close the set and take the 2-0 overall lead.
 
It was another late push in the third set that fell short for the Demons but once again showed the resiliency of the team. Trailing the entire set once again and down 19-14, three straight Cajun errors opened the door for the Demons. Gerwig and Burrell then scored on back-to-back kills to tie the set at 20.
 
The run ended there however as the Cajuns benefited from three NSU errors in their final 5-0 run that sealed the set and the match in their favor.
 
Burrell and Gerwig tied for the team lead in the match with seven kills and Boydstun missed her second double-double of the day by one with 11 assists and nine digs.
 
The Demons close out opening weekend on Saturday night against Mississippi State at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+ before their home opener on Monday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. against UCLA in Prather Coliseum.