BEAUMONT, Texas – Northwestern State was unable to cash in on key points late in sets two and three of Thursday night's match leading to a 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-22) loss at Lamar.
 
The teams found themselves even at 20 points in both the second and third sets, but compounding miscues by the Demons opened the door for Lamar's talented outside hitter duo allowed them to outduel the pair from Northwestern.
 
"Costly errors in key moments pretty much sums this one up," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "It's something that doesn't show up on the box score that also hurt us against UTRGV and Corpus. 
 
We play well at the beginning of points to create favorable situations but not being able to capitalize, whether that is off our first touch, timing on offense or the choice on our swing. The difficult part is the errors that need to be cleaned up are a moving target. Different errors are presenting themselves in those key moments."
 
Lamar jumped out to 7-1 lead in the first set from which the Demons were never fully able to recover.
 
A pair of Cardinal errors, two of the only three they committed in the set, along with kills from Deja Benjamin and Teresa Garza fueled a 4-1 run to pull the Demons back within five at 18-13 late in the set. But the Cardinals answered with a similar 4-1 stretch with two kills and two NSU errors pushing the lead back to 22-14.
 
Two more kills and one of three service aces in the set and seven in the match for the Cardinals finished the opener 25-16.
 
The teams traded runs throughout the second set before the critical moments at 20-20. 
 
Garza, who had five kills on 11 error-free swings in the first set, nearly matched that same production in the second with five kills on 12 swings in the second. Her third kill of the second set sparked a 5-0 Demon run to give them an 18-14 lead.
 
Lamar responded with a 5-1 run to create the tense moments at the end of the frame with both teams tied at 20. The Demons took a two-point edge on a kill from Garza and block from Samaya Wesson and Olivia Bush. Four Cardinal points over the next five serves, including two kills from the third leading attacker in the conference Maja Malinowska, flipped the lead and gave the advantage to the home team.
 
The Demons held off one set point thanks to a Lamar miscue, but another kill from Malinowska, her eighth of the set let to the decisive hitting error from the Demons that ended the set.
 
In the third set it was the Demons that forced things to tighten up after the 20-point mark getting a Thompson and Wesson block to pull within a point and watching a Malinowska attack sail long to even things at 20.
 
The hitting error was the eighth of the set for the Cardinals after having just five in the first two sets combined. The next three points however did find their way to the floor from Lamar attackers and was followed by a Demon hitting error setting up match point for the Cardinals.
 
The Demons blocked two consecutive match point attempts with Wesson turning one away on a solo stop and Bush and Benjamin connecting for another. But after a Lamar timeout to stomp out any potential momentum, the ensuing Northwestern serve went into the net to end the match.
 
Lamar's Malinowska led all attackers with 16 kills on the night with Garza finishing the night with 13, edging Malinowska for the match lead in hitting percentage at .238. Garza just missed another double-double with nine digs.
 
Hunter MacFarland set a new career high with 13 digs and matched her career best with three aces.