It was a five-set nail biter at the Convocation Center Thursday night as the Roadrunners faced off against the Northwestern State Demons.

The Roadrunners started the match by winning the first set, 27-25. In the second and third set, the Demons dominated the Roadrunners winning both sets 16-25 and 21-25.

Briana Mason led the fourth set with 6 kills and 3 aces in the set, and 19 kills in the game. The Roadrunners were able to hold off the Demons for a 25-21 win that would force a fifth set.

In the fifth set the Roadrunners came out on top, winning the set 15-12 and the match three sets to two.

“I think it shows some guts” said Coach Laura Groff after Thursday night’s comeback. “It’s almost like one of those things where they gotta have pressure on them to play hard.”

The Roadrunners were going to need a lot more than guts on Saturday if they wanted to beat the University of Central Arkansas, who were undefeated in conference play.

In the first set, the Roadrunners came out on top with a 25-14 win and took an early one set lead. The Roadrunners kept the score close in the second set and were able to have seven tie scores, but the Sugar Bears were not about to let the Roadrunners take a 2-0 lead. After being tied at 11-11, the Sugar Bears pulled ahead and took the set 25-20.

After intermission, the Roadrunners came back prepared to win the fourth set. They were aggressive offensively as well as defensively throughout the entire fourth set and allowed the Sugar Bears to score only 16 points to their 25.

In the fifth set, the Sugar Bears took advantage of some attack errors the Roadrunners made and were able to gain a seven point lead. However, the Roadrunners were not finished.

They rallied for six points late in the fifth set to shrink the Sugar Bear lead from 5-13 to 11-13. All seemed to point to another comeback by the Roadrunners, but the Sugar Bears held the Roadrunners off 11-15 and were able to remain undefeated.

Although the Roadrunners were unable to come off with the win, this match will certainly help them with the rest of the season.

“I definitely think it’s going to prepare us to play some of the other teams that we’ve already lost to like Texas State, Sam Houston. We can get our second chance with them, and be confident enough to take the win.” Kendra Rowland said.

The Roadrunners will be on the road this week. First they will visit Huntsville to face off against Sam Houston State, and then they will travel to Beaumont to play Lamar.