NATCHITOCHES, La. – Olivia Bush recorded her 200^th career kill but the Northwestern State Demons' volleyball team was defeated by the Southland Conference leading UT-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros, 3-0 (25-16, 25-17 and 25-12) Thursday night at Prather Coliseum.

The Demons (1-28, 0-15 SLC) fell behind in the first set 10-4 before Makenna Tryon's kill stopped the Vaqueros' (18-7, 14-1 SLC) run. But UTRGV scored seven of the next 10 points to take a 17-8 first set lead before cruising to the win.

In set two, the Demons trailed just 11-9 following back-to-back aces by Emmarie McFarland.  However, the Vaqueros worked their way back in front 19-13 following a kill by Aayliah Snead. NSU cut it to five, 21-16, after McFarland's third ace before the Vaqueros pulled away for the win.

In the third set, the Demons got out to an early 5-2 lead before the Vaqueros went on a 9-2 run to take an 11-7 lead. A kill by Samaya Wesson slowed the run down momentarily to make it 13-10 UTRGV. But it was all Vaqueros from there as they scored 12 of the final 14 points to clinch the match.

"That team is super well-coached and talented," said Demon head coach Ben Kaszeta. "But I thought we competed well all game long. We missed some serves at some bad moments but at the same time we had great energy in a game that we didn't have much to play for. I love how hard the girls are competing at the end of the season which we can build on for next year."

The Demons were led by Deja Benjamin while Wesson had six. Tryon finished with five kills while Bush had four to aid NSU. The Demons also got 13 digs from McFarland to go with three aces while Jade Longlad had 13 assists.

Next up, the Demons wrap the season Saturday afternoon for senior day against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.