GRAMBLING – Northwestern State was unable to settle into a steady offensive flow in Tuesday night's 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 26-24) loss at Grambling.
 
The Demons (4-3) had two different sets with 18 kills, the first time scoring that many points on pure attacks in a set this year, and finished with more kills than the Tigers for the match. The anomalous number of Demon errors however led to the disappointing loss.
 
In three sets NSU committed 26 total attack errors, 21 of them unforced. Add in eight service errors and four reception errors, on par for what they have done this season in other matches, but enough to help give the Tigers the edge on the night.
 
The Demons took control of the match early on with a 7-1 run in the opening set to move ahead 12-5 on the Tigers. NSU got four kills, two from Reaghan Thompson, and two blocks both featuring Samaya Wesson, during the rally to seize the early momentum.
 
The Tiger chipped away at the lead with a pair of 3-0 scoring bursts before jumping ahead and reaching set point with a late 4-0 run making it a 24-23 set. A service error and kill from Olivia Bush gave NSU its only set point of the night at 25-24, but the sixth of seven attack errors in the set flipped the advantage back to Grambling who closed the frame with a 4-1 run.
 
Like they did in the opener, the Demons jumped ahead early, this time with a Thompson-fueled scoring barrage.
 
After seven kills in the first set, Thompson had a hand in all four of NSU's first four points of the set – three kills and a block with Wesson. A kill from Madisynne McQueen and service ace from Lorelei Freling later in the set pushed the Demons ahead 11-7.
 
The tide shifted quickly in the set and the match as Grambling leapt ahead on a 13-point serving run, eight of those points coming on NSU attack errors. The Demons committed nine errors total in the set. The Tigers ran away with the frame as the run stretched to 17-1 overall to take the commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Eleven of the Demons first 13 points of the third set came from kills as they once again got out to a handful-sized lead on the Tigers at 13-7. But like it did in the second set, the errors cost the Demons allowing the Tigers to erase the deficit.
 
Grambling had just three kills over its final 10 points of the match with the other seven coming from varying types of Demon miscues.
 
Combined with the Northwestern missteps, the Tigers committed just nine attack errors in the match, three of them unforced, for their second-best offensive performance of the season.
 
On a tough night for the Demons offensively as a whole, Thompson turned in her third 20-kill match of the season thanks to a seven-kill first and nine-kill third set performance. Setter Gabby Seeds averaged 12.7 assists per set and Freling led the team in digs with a career-high 13.