RUSTON – A sluggish start put Northwestern State in a hole that it ran out of time to recover from in a 3-1 (25-13, 25-18, 13-25, 25-21) loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday afternoon.
 
After dropping the first two error-filled sets against a spread-out Bulldog (4-5) offensive attack, the Demons (5-4) regained their footing to dominate the third set. Ten kills with just one error between outside hitters Reaghan Thompson and Teresa Garza in the frame led the match-best .350 team attack to continue the match in a fourth set.
 
In the seesaw fourth set the Demons led 16-15 following a kill from Teresa Garza and an ace from Reaghan Thompson. The critical moment of the set came on the ensuing 4-1 Tech run that gave them the lead and created just enough space to hold on for the win. The teams traded points over the next seven serves with NSU bouncing between one and two-point deficits before a 3-0 Bulldog burst sealed the match.
 
"We started the day off high error with a lot of those errors being unforced or just bad situational choices," head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "We were slow to make changes and then be consistent with those changes. 
 
"Things clicked in the third and that is entirely credited to our players because there wasn't a tactical change we could make to help us out of it. The fourth was a good set for both teams and we just got stuck in two late rotations and gave up one more point than we could afford. We did make a turnaround to make it competitive which is a positive we can take from the match."
 
With just four total errors and only two of them unforced through the first two sets, Tech was in an early offensive groove to start the match using all of the weapons at their disposal. The Bulldogs had seven different players score a kill in those sets and hit .323 during that time. 
 
On the other side of the net the Demons committed 14 hitting errors, 10 of them unforced, for a sub.-100 percentage leading to the 2-0 match deficit.
 
With their backs against the wall the Demons snapped into focus for a dominant third set to extend the match. They had six kills through their first eight points of the set to jump out to an 8-4 lead. Four more kills during a 6-0 scoring run later in the set all but sealed the third for the Demons giving them the 19-10 lead.
 
Garza and Thompson's effort from the outside during the set opened the door for five combined kills on nine error-free swings from Olivia Bush and Deja Benjamin. 
 
The strong third set performance led to the most competitive set of the day in the fourth. The Demons got out to a 6-2 lead before the Bulldogs tied it at eight with a 4-0 run. NSU responded with a 5-1 stretch where Thompson picked up three of her six kills in the set moving the Demons back ahead by four. A 6-1 Tech run gave them the lead back to the home team.
 
NSU inched ahead 16-15 and then tied the set at 17 three serves later on a kill from Benjamin, but a Bulldog kill and NSU attack error provided the final cushion the Bulldogs needed to hold on for the win.
 
Garza finished with 19 kills and only two errors on more than 50 swings for a .327 hitting percentage. Middles Samaya Wesson and Benjamin each had eight kills in the match and the Demons had four players with 10 or more kills for the second match of the weekend.