Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University women's volleyball team gave the Northwestern State Lady Demons all they could handle in their Southland Conference volleyball match on Saturday afternoon, but the Colonels would not be able to overcome the Northwestern State attack, falling in four sets, 25-22, 25-27, 17-25, 21-25 in Prather Coliseum.

The Colonels (5-14, 2-7 SLC) once again found its offensive firepower from the usual suspects in Kayla Mashburn and Kayla Burling, while getting many big defensive plays from Kalynn Egea and the group to the tune of 75 digs to Northwestern State's (10-9, 6-1) 68.

Mashburn and Burling earned their third consecutive double-doubles in as many matches on Saturday afternoon, as Mashburn led all players with 17 kills and a stellar .239 hitting percentage to go along with her 10 digs. Burling had 10 kills and 12 digs on the afternoon for her team-leading seventh double-double along with two service aces.

Sophomore setter Alyse Barclay had her third consecutive match with 20 or more assist, serving up 21 on the day, while Ainsley Marroccoli returned to action after sitting out due to illness to have 13 assists and 11 digs for her second double-double of the year.

Kalynn Egea continues to find the ball when she's on the court, finishing the day with a game-high 23 digs for her third-straight match with at least 20.

Nicholls won the first set due in part to some big runs by the Colonels which included turning a 6-5 lead into an 11-5 one after a Marlee Bean service ace to force a Lady Demon timeout. Northwestern State would go on to split the next 18 points even with the Colonels, allowing Nicholls to go up 20-15 to get the Lady Demons to call their second timeout of the set. Although Nichols took the next four points out of the timeout to get one away from taking the set, Nicholls would need to hold off a Northwestern State rally to eventually win on a bad set by the Lady Demons to go up 1-0.

Much like the first, the Colonels once again jumped out to a big lead early, as two service aces by Burling to open and close a four serve drive by the Colonels pushed the Lady Demons into a timeout. The Colonels seemed poised to take Northwestern State completely out of the match and came within one point of taking the second set leading 24-19, but the bottom fell out as the Lady Demons came all the way back to tie the match at 24 on a six-point swing to turn it into a new match, which Northwestern State eventually claimed taking the second set 27-25.

That confidence began to boil over for the Lady Demons after that point, as Northwestern State took a 9-9 tie and scored the next three to take a 12-9 lead to force a Nicholls timeout. The Lady Demons outscored the Colonels 8-5 after that break to lead 20-14, making the lead too much to overcome to drop the third 25-17.

Hoping to stay in the hunt and push the match to a deciding fifth set, the fourth alone saw eight of the 20 total ties and four of the 10 lead changes that happened over the course of the match, as Nicholls got back into the match late scoring four of five points down 18-15 to tie the set at 19-all. After a Northwestern State timeout, the Colonels went up 20-19 on a kill by Mashburn, but the lead would be short-lived as the offense stalled allowing the Lady Demons to score the next four to take a 23-20 lead, holding Nicholls to just one more point for the rest of the match to fall 25-21 and end the game.

The Colonels will be back in action on Tuesday, hosting the first of three consecutive matches in Thibodaux beginning with the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.