NATCHITOCHES, La. - On a tough night on the road, Lamar University (6-9, 1-4 SLC) fought hard but couldn't keep pace with Northwestern State University (12-7, 4-1 SLC). The Cards dropped a three-set decision to the Lady Demons in Prather Coliseum.

Abigale Nash led with seven kills and 12 digs, and Dannisha House and Kayla Neumann each had five kills along with two blocks for House and one block for Neumann. Erin Pequeno had nine digs and two aces.

The Cards were close to open the match, trailing by just one at 13-12, but eight straight points for the Lady Demons quickly put the game out of reach. Nash snapped the streak with a kill, and LU held off three stright set points with kills by House and Neumann, but in the end NSU took the first set 25-16.

LU came within three of NSU in the second set, but Northwestern State held Big Red at arms' length throughout, winning the game 25-8.

Lamar's biggest fight came in the third set. The Cards took three of the first four before NSU tied the set at 4-4 and took a 5-4 lead. A service error tied the game again at 5-5, but that would be the closest LU would get. The Lady Demons would add three points for every Cardinal point to build a 20-11 lead, and though LU kept pace with NSU 5-5 to close out the match, it wasn't enough as Northwestern State took the set 25-16 and the match 3-0.

The road trip continues with Sam Houston State (8-8, 4-0 SLC) on Saturday before returning home to host Central Arkansas (8-10, 2-3 SLC) on Oct. 17 and Nicholls (8-7, 2-2 SLC) on Oct. 19.

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