CONWAY, Ark.- McNeese volleyball put up a tough fight and received quality minutes from several players Thursday night in a four set (25-17, 19-25, 25-16, 25-21) Southland Conference loss to preseason favorite Central Arkansas.

"Hats off to Central Arkansas for playing a great match," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "We played hard-nose ball tonight and are still playing without Rachel (Cagnina) and Malina (Sanchez). Sanchez is playing libero, so we've moved some people around and have handled it fairly well."

Cagnina, the Cowgirls' lone senior suffered an injury a week ago today and missed tonight's match.  Sanchez, who has been playing outside hitter, played her second match of the season as the libero. Sanchez led McNeese with 13 digs.

Amber Fryer led the Cowgirls with 11 kills and Rebecca Korenek ended the match with nine. Freshman Rae Myers ended the night with a season-high eight. Carly DeMarque, who saw her first start of the season, led the McNeese with four blocks. Vanessa Bentley was the only other Cowgirl to pick up 10 or more digs, ending the match with 12.

"Carly and Vanessa gave us quality time tonight. We need to just keep playing tough as we progress through the meat of our schedule," said Fitzgerald.

McNeese fell behind 3-0 in the opening set before scoring its first point of the set. A kill and a service ace by Myers pulled the Cowgirls to within two points but UCA went on a 5-0 run to take a 12-5 lead.  McNeese went on a run of its own on kills by Korenek to cut the lead to 14-10. UCA went on to outscore McNeese 15-3 to take the first set 25-17.

McNeese bounced back in set two to even the match with a 25-19 win. The Cowgirls trailed early in the set but took the lead for good on a service ace by Myers and a kill by Fryer. McNeese held as much as a five point lead several times in the set.  The Cowgirls held off the Sugar Bears late in the set after UCA cut the McNeese lead to two points (20-18) before taking the second set.

McNeese dropped the next two sets 25-16 and 25-21 to drop the overall match.  The fourth set went back and forth for most of the set which consisted of 10 ties.

With the fourth set tied at nine, McNeese scored the next three points on a Myers service ace and kills by Shelby Poehls and Korenek for a 12-9 McNeese lead. McNeese continue to hold the lead until UCA came back to tie the set 16 all.  The Sugar Bears took an 18-16 lead after scoring the next two points on kills by Megan Nash and Fulani Petties. That lead wouldn't last long after Korenek picked up another kill and UCA committed back to back errors to give McNeese a 19-18 lead. UCA took the lead for good with four consecutive kills including three from Evie Singleton for a 22-19 lead.  An error by McNeese gave UCA a 23-20. UCA closed out the set and the match with another kill by Singleton and a Cowgirl error.

McNeese falls to 10-11 overall and 1-5 in the SLC while UCA improved to 11-7 overall and remained undefeated in conference play with a 6-0 record.

The Cowgirls return home Sunday to host Incarnate Word in its "Dig Pink" match beginning at 3 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to show your support for breast cancer awareness.