HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Northwestern State volleyball team lost 3-0 (25-16, 25-19 and 25-12) the Jackson State Tigers Friday afternoon in the first game of the Golden Eagle Classic hosted by Southern Miss.

The Demons (1-11) fell behind big in the first set, 13-2, before outscoring the Tigers (1-8) 14-11 over the remainder of the set. But the deficit was too big as JSU took the early one-set advantage.

NSU opened the second set with a 7-5 advantage as Samaya Wesson recorded a kill off the set from Jade Longlad. However, the Tigers battled back and took a five-point lead of 14-9 which they maintained for the better part of the set as JSU took a 2-0 lead.

In set three, the match was tied at 5-5 after back-to-back attack errors by JSU. However, the Tigers erupted as they took control of the match, finishing on a 20-7 run to seal the win.

The Tigers finished with 41 kills while the Demons had 24. The Demons had 19 attack errors to 11 for the Tigers.

NSU was led by Makenna Tryon with seven kills while Elsie Sanchez Oliver had six.

The Demons will be back in action Saturday with a pair of matches on the Slate. NSU will take on host team Southern Miss (5-3) at noon before facing Grambling (0-7) at 3 p.m.