Written by Alex Kushel

Follow @NUSeahawks

Tweet #SeahawkNation

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Northwood University volleyball team suffered a hard-fought loss in three sets (23-25, 22-25, 16-25) to Southeastern (Fla.) in a Sun Conference matchup at the Countess de Hoernle Student Life Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Seahawks showed resiliency as they rallied and came from behind throughout the match, but were unable to capitalize during the last stretch in all three sets.

In the first set, the Lady Seahawks had a strong start to the match as both teams traded points with the score tied 11-11. After Southeastern(8-4) scored five consecutive points, the Seahawks battled back and were able to eventually draw even at 21-21. The Fire took advantage of costly errors and held off the Seahawks by two points.

The Lady Seahawks trailed 17-11 in the second set before winning three consecutive points to cut the deficit. The Seahawks then trailed 23-18 before rallying with four of the next five points, but were unable to complete the comeback.

In the third set, the Fire had a 10-7 lead before pulling away with four straight points. The Lady Seahawks would cut the deficit to 20-14, but the Fire held them off to close the match.

"We played hard and we were right there, but Southeastern is a very talented team," Northwood head coach Chris Taylor said. "It's about the team that makes the least amount of errors and that's what it came down to at the end and the difference in two or three points. "We will have to clean up our game and get ready for the two away games next weekend."

Nikki McKown led the Lady Seahawks with eight kills and nine digs. Gida Victor tallied eight kills while Sydney Fish registered seven kills in the loss. Nicole Papineau contributed with 27 kills and five digs.

"Gida had a great match in the middle with high efficiency," Taylor said. "Nikki, Sydney, Nicole, and our whole team went after it. Southeastern was picked third in the conference and they showed up and played well."

Carol Reis had 15 kills and seven digs to lead the Fire. Lindsay Fleming and Alyssa Prescott both added 18 assists.

The Lady Seahawks are 8-8 on the season and will return to the court on Friday, September 26 as they visit Florida Memorial at 7 p.m.