THIBODAUX— McNeese volleyball picked up a much needed 3-2 (25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-12) win over Nicholls here Tuesday in a grueling five set match that could have Southland Conference tournament implications.
 
McNeese improves to 10-20 overall and 6-9 in league play. The Cowgirls remain in eighth place in the league standings but are only one-half match out of seventh place Lamar who has a conference record of 6-8. McNeese will conclude its regular season at Abilene Christian on Saturday while Lamar will host regular season champs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday and Incarnate Word Saturday.  
 
The win also snapped a three match losing streak for McNeese and was the Cowgirls' second win over the Colonels this season. McNeese picked up a 3-1 win in Lake Charles on October 15.
 
Rebecca Korenek and Ebony Lewis nearly tied their career high's in kills in the win. Korenek led all players with 16 kills, two shy of her career high 18 and Lewis put down 11 kills, one shy of her career best. Lewis also led the Cowgirls with five blocks to tie her season high while Korenek picked up four blocks also tying her season high.
 
The Cowgirls' defense picked up 95 digs, one shy of tying their season high of 96 against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 17. Senior libero Bridget Justis picked up one-third of the digs tonight with a career high 32. Setter Alexandra Aguilera also recorded a career high with 18 and Keegan Nelms picked up 14. Aguilera also dished out 50 assist to pick up her 15^th double double of the year.
 
McNeese opened the match by taking the first set 25-21 to take a 1-0 lead. With the set tied at 19 all each team traded kills with Korenek giving McNeese the 20-19 lead but Nicholls tied it at 20 on the next serve on a kill by Kaci Eaton. Another kill by Korenek followed by a service ace by Ebony Lewis gave the Cowgirls a 22-20 lead. After a McNeese hitting error, the Cowgirls closed out the match by scoring the last three points on a Nicholls service error and two kills by Hailee Showers.
 
Nicholls jumped out to a 3-0 lead in set two and increased its lead to 10-4. McNeese got as close a two points twice in the set at 13-11 and 14-12 but the Colonels continued to hold of McNeese and eventually won the set 25-18 to even the overall match at one set apiece.
 
The Colonels started out quick in the third set and held a 7-0 lead before Jenny D'Alessandro put the Cowgirls on the board with a kill. McNeese continued to chip away at the lead and really got things rolling behind the serve of Justis. Trailing 15-10, Justis held the serve for McNeese for nine straight points to give the Cowgirls a 20-15 lead. Keegan Nelms and D'Alessandro put down the final two kills in the set for the 25-19 win and a 2-1 overall lead.
 
McNeese took the lead in the fourth set and held as much as a five point lead (11-6) before Nicholls went on a run to cut the lead to 13-10. It looked like McNeese was going to close out the match leading 22-15 and needing only three points but Nicholls' offense outscored McNeese 8-0 to tie the set at 23 all. McNeese took a brief 25-24 lead but a Cowgirl service error and two Nicholls kills gave the Colonels a 27-25 win to send the match into a deciding fifth set. 
 
The Cowgirls took the early lead in the fifth set and never trailed. McNeese scored the first three points of the set before extending its lead to 7-4 then a kill by Rae Myers gave the Cowgirls the 8-4 lead on the change over. The set would eventually tie up at 11 before McNeese would score three straight points on a D'Alessandro kill, a Nicholls error and a Lewis kill for a 14-11 McNeese lead. After a Nicholls kill, Korenek would end the match on a kill for the 15-11 Cowgirl win.