A combined 35 kills from outside hitters Brooke Reichart, Taylor Lewis and middle blocker Whitney Lloyd weren’t enough as the St. Thomas volleyball team lost its second consecutive home game of the season to Northwestern Friday night at Schoenecker Arena.

After a 7-0 run late, Northwestern took the first set, then squeezed by in the second winning 25-23. The Tommies came out with a lot of energy in the third and won 26-24, only letting Northwestern have one lead the entire set. Coach Thanh Pham was happy with his team’s start Friday.

“I think we played very well for the first three sets and totally dropped the ball in the fourth set,” Pham said.

Northwestern took the fourth set easily, winning 25-16.

St. Thomas beat Northwestern in a 5 set match just two weeks ago in the Augsburg College Invitational. Pham said he wasn’t frustrated losing to an opponent his team had already beaten.

“They are just progressing faster than we are,” he said.

Middle blocker Grace Duffy had similar thoughts.

“It’s not frustrating because it’s all on us,” she said. “I think that if we fix ourselves, we’ll be fine.”

With the loss, the Tommies drop to 6-7 on the season. Pham’s plan to get better is rather simple.

“We need to work on our composure”, he said.

Lloyd led the team with 13 kills, while Lewis recorded 11 of her own to go along with 24 digs.

Setter Rebecca Hawkins said the team is putting the loss behind it.

“Teams can always beat you but it’s just a matter of how you bounce back,” she said.

St. Thomas plays at home Saturday against St. Mary’s.

Jack Burke can be reached at jtburke@stthomas.edu.