LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball will open play in the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament at 1:30 p.m. Friday against New Orleans at the Ferris Center in Conway, Arkansas.
 
McNeese will face a New Orleans team (18-15) that earned the fifth seed by virtue of a four-way tie with Houston Baptist, Sam Houston State, and Southeastern La. The teams split the series with each team winning on its own home court during the season. The match against the Privateers will be the third in less than a month. The winner of the match will advance to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the regular season champion and the tournament's top seed at noon on Saturday.
 
All quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network, available at Southland.org/watch and on the league's mobile and tablet apps. Greg Miller and Chris Mycoskie will handle play-by-play duties for the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. Links can also be found on the front page of the McNeese Athletics website at mcneesesports.com.
 
McNeese (14-17) is making its league leading 29^th tournament appearance and first under second year head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. The Cowgirls earned the fourth seed, its highest regular season finish since 2007 when the Cowgirls finished second in the East Division and fourth overall. The Cowgirls enter the tournament on a three match winning streak and won four of their last five regular season matches.
 
Senior All-Southland Conference selections, Malina Sanchez and Kelly Graham will spearhead the Cowgirls' offense. Sanchez ended the regular season ranked second in the league in kills in conference matches only behind the SLC Player of the Year Heather Schnars. Sanchez with 255 kills for an average of 3.81 per set. On the season, Sanchez has 382 to her credit. Graham has been consistent all season as the Cowgirls' setter. She led McNeese and ranks fifth in the SLC in conference matches only with 659 for an average of 9.84 per set. Graham enters the weekend with 1,138 assists this season and is second on the team with 282 digs and 23 service aces.
 
McNeese has a cast of players who have also been a part of the Cowgirls fourth place finish. Junior libero Bridget Justis leads McNeese with 530 digs and 24 service aces. She has 315 digs in conference matches only, which ranks her fourth. Joining Justis in the back row is defensive specialist Adison Giambrone. Giambrone has 235 digs along with 44 assists.
 
Lately, the Cowgirls have gotten offensive help from Rebecca Korenek along with front row blocking from senior Amber Fryer. Korenek has given the Cowgirls' offense a spark in the last few matches including a season high 15 kills against Incarnate Word on Nov. 7 that started the three match winning streak. Fryer has stepped up her play at the net and has made a contribution on offense as well. She also tied her season high of 15 kills against Incarnate Word on Nov. 7 after collecting 15 at Stephen F. Austin in the second conference match of the season.