Demons drop two at the Missouri State Tournament Friday
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Northwestern State Demons volleyball dropped a tough one to the   Indiana State Sycamores 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 9-25 and 5-15) and then lost in straight sets to the Missouri State Bears 3-0 (25-22, 25-22 and 25-20) Friday in the first day of the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational.
The Demons (1-4) went back and forth in the opening set with the Sycamores as the match was tied 24-24. However, a kill by ISU's Kira Holland and a Demons' attack error sealed the first set win for the Sycamores (2-1), 26-24.
In the second set, the Demons tied the match at 23-23 after a kill by
Olivia Nzioki and back-to-back service aces by
Emmarie McFarland before an attack effort by the Sycamore clinched a 25-23 win the second set for NSU.
NSU took a 15-13 lead into the media timeout of the third set for the third straight set. However, the Sycamores scored seven of the next nine points to make it 20-17 ISU. But the Demons refused to go away as they took a 24-22 lead after back-to-back kills by
Elsie Sanchez.
Jade Longlad's block secured the win in the third set for the Demons.
The Sycamores came out on fire in the fourth set as they led 15-4 quickly and steamrolled their way to a 25-9 win, tying the match at 2-2 sets apiece.
The Demons simply couldn't recover as they fell behind 7-2 in the fifth set and then 10-4 as the Sycamores pulled away for a five-set win 15-5.
"We played our hearts out against Indiana State," said Demon head coach
Ben Kaszeta." As a coach that is all you can ask for. A team that leaves it all out there. We made a few mistakes at some in opportune times. Those mistakes took our momentum out of us and made it hard to come back in that 5th set."
The Demons were led by Sanchez with 14 kills while Longlad had 33 assists to pace the Demons. McFarland had her fifth straight game with double digit digs as she picked out 20 kills.
In the second match, NSU fell in straight sets as the Bears took the first two sets by the same score of 25-22 and then the third set 25-18. The Demons (1-5) were led by Sanchez as she tied a career high with 15 kills. Longlad had 31 assists to add to her conference lead.
"We play so hard," said Ben Kaszetta. "That is a really good program that we played tonight (Missouri State). They took our conference champ SFA to 5 and we gave them all they could handle. I'm proud of our effort. Our biggest growth and point of focus will be crunch time situations. We will learn how to handle those situations better."
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The Bears (3-2) had 43 kills and were paced by Rilynn Finley. Hannah Gardner and Halie Riley both had 19 assists for MSU.
The Demons will wrap up the tournament Saturday at noon when they face the Little Rock Trojans.
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