COMMERCE, Texas – It was close but no dice for Northwestern State on Tuesday night as multiple chances to finish two pivotal sets slipped away in a 3-2 (25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 14-25, 17-15) loss at Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
The Demons (7-8, 3-1) overcame a stagnant start to the match and first-set loss to hold a 24-19 lead in the second set before the Lions rattled off seven straight points to steal the 2-0 lead. After the Demons rallied to win the third and dominate the fourth, forcing the deciding fifth set, NSU held the led throughout and reached match point at 14-12. A 5-1 Commerce run closed the night with a second set theft for the home team to end the match.
 
The loss snaps the Demons seven-match winning streak, the second longest in program history, and prevents NSU from winning its first four conference matches of the season for the first time ever.
 
"We had a few uncharacteristic errors at the end of the second and fifth sets," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "I'm proud that we got ourselves in a position to win the match when we had a slow start. It was a good match for us to find ourselves in early in the conference schedule so we know the importance of closing out matches."
 
Self-inflicted wounds immobilized the NSU offense in the first set. A total of 12 attack errors, seven of them unforced by the Commerce block, left NSU looking for the reset button after dropping the opening set 25-18.
 
They finally found said button and a return to form late in the second set while trailing 17-13. A six-point serving run from Teresa Garza erased the deficit and gave the Demons a 19-17 edge after pair of blocks from Reaghan Thompson and Madisynne McQueen and a finishing ace from Garza.
 
McQueen and Thompson connected again to push NSU to the 20-point mark and start a 5-1 burst that gave it set point at 24-19. NSU had half of their eight blocks in the second set, a match best, within their final 10 points of the set.
 
In a rare occurrence, the Demons were unable to find the final point it needed to even the match at one set apiece as the Lions scored on four kills, a block and a pair of NSU errors to swipe the set and the 2-0 lead 26-24.
 
The two sides battled through the bulk of the third set with the Demons getting the clutch play they've become used to seeing down the stretch. Kills from Jordan Gamble, Tessa Gerwig, Symone Wesley and Garza all in the final 10 points of the set were bolstered by the handful of Lion errors on the other side that extended the match to a fourth set with NSU carrying all of the momentum. 
 
NSU had its way with the run of play in the fourth set hitting a match-best .293 with 16 kills and just four errors as the conference's best block kicked into full gear. NSU created 21 points on its own in the set between the 16 kills and the five blocks as it led from start to finish in the frame pushing the match to a final set.
 
The Demons jumped ahead early in the fifth with a 6-3 lead and held the advantage at the turn on a Breanna Burrell kill. They crept towards match point with a pair of kills from Thompson and another from Burrell to take the 14-12 edge.
 
A ball handling error on a free ball and a rare reception error opened the door for the Lions to stave off a pair of match points. Gamble evened things at 15 after the Lions took the lead but back-to-back kills off the NSU block found the floor for Commerce's Avery Wilks to end the marathon match.
 
NSU matched a program record with 20 total blocks in the match with Thompson setting a new career high and tying the NSU single match record with 13 total blocks on the night. She also picked up her fourth career kill-block double-double with 10 kills on 22 error-free swings.
 
Garze turned in yet another impressive all-around outing with a team-leading 15 kills with 12 digs, her fourth double-double this season, five blocks and three aces. Gamble also reached double-digit kills for the first time this season with 10 adding a season-best seven blocks to her impressive line. 
 
Five players had 10 or more digs in the match led by Ashlyn Svoboda's 27. Both Piper Boydstun and Amina Attra had assist-dig double-doubles giving the Demons four total double-doubles in the match.