LUBBOCK, Texas – The Northwestern State volleyball team's stay in west Texas produced some strong moments in its season opener against Texas Tech and a tough nightcap against Rice.
 
The results were a pair of 3-0 losses in the Red Raider Classic on Friday as NSU opened its 2018 season.
 
Texas Tech 3, Northwestern State 0
 
The Northwestern State volleyball team pushed Big 12 Conference member Texas Tech repeatedly Friday afternoon in both teams' season-opening match.
 
In a sign of the Lady Demons' mentality, their closer-than-the-final-score-indicated 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) loss to the host Red Raiders in the Red Raider Classic was not enough.
 
"I was happy with the match as a whole, but like I said around this time last year with this group, getting close isn't what we're happy with," fourth-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "There were times in the match that I thought we could have stepped up as a veteran team and extended a run or ended a run by Tech earlier. It's the first match of the year, and it will take a little time to get back into midseason form."
 
The Lady Demons (0-1) pressed the Red Raiders (1-0) throughout the majority of the first two sets.
 
In each of those sets, Northwestern State was well within striking distance in the final points of the set before Texas Tech clinched each of them with twin 3-0 runs.
 
In the second set, NSU faced its largest deficit of the match to that point (22-17) before Reagan Rogers' capped a set-tying 5-0 run with back-to-back service aces. The Red Raiders then used an NSU service error, an ace of their own and a block to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third set, the Lady Demons continued to play Texas Tech tightly, staying within three points through the first half of the set before the Red Raiders used a 7-1 surge to take control of the set.
 
Rogers led Northwestern State with 11 kills, her 15^th straight match to reach double figures dating to the 2017 season. Madeline Drake turned in an error-free match, connecting on six kills with a .429 hitting percentage.
 
Freshman setter Skylar Besch made her first career start, handing out 22 assists and adding three kills and three block assists.
 
"It took a while for Reagan to connect, but she's always going to find a way to score," Kiracofe said. "She just needs a little time to get in sync with Skylar. Drake was having a really good match and it would have been nice to get her the ball more. Again, that's something that will come as Skylar gets more experience."
 
Rice 3, Northwestern State 0

The Lady Demons started quickly against the Owls (2-0), jumping to an 12-7 lead in the first set before Rice set off on a long run.

Rice answered NSU's 5-0 run early in the set with an 11-0 run that gave the Owls control of the opening set and start its 25-20, 25-13, 25-14 sweep.
 
That pattern repeated itself in the next two sets with long runs setting up the Owls' victory. Rice strung together a 7-2 spurt to open the second set and used a 7-0 surge to build a 10-point lead late in the final set.
 
Hannah Brister led Northwestern State (0-2) with five kills, hitting .286 in the process. Madeline Drake and Reagan Rogers each had four kills for NSU, which was held to an .088 hitting percentage.
 
Defensively, Channing Burleson collected a match-high 15 digs, giving her 34 in the Lady Demons' two matches in the tournament.

"I don't feel the scores were a good reflection of how we played against Rice," Kiracofe said. "Specifically being in control with a five-point lead late into the first set against a team that's getting first-place votes in Conference USA -- that says a lot about our level of play going into the rest of the season."
 
Northwestern State returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Jackson State in its home opener. First serve is set for 1 p.m. on Elementary School Day in Prather Coliseum.