LAKE CHARLES--  It didn't take long for setter Adison Giambrone to pick up her 1,000 career dig against Sam Houston State Saturday, in fact the Richmond, Texas native joined the elite group on the first defensive play of the match when she dug the first ball for the Cowgirls. Despite dropping the match 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 18-25, 18-25) to the league leading Bearkats, Giambrone ended the match with nine digs.
 
The loss drops the Cowgirls to 12-9 overall and 4-3 in league play while Sam Houston State evened its overall record to 9-9 and remains undefeated in the SLC at 6-0.
 
Keegan Nelms led the Cowgirls with a double-double (16 kills, 13 digs) while Shanna Spree added 10 kills, five blocks, and a .312 hitting percent. Alexandra Aguilera ended the match with 19 assists and Giambrone had 18. Libero Angela McGownd led McNeese with 13 digs.
 
Sam Houston State had four players with 10 or more kills and was led by Jordyn Vaughn and Taylor Cunningham who had 16 apiece. Madison Wallace was credited with 13 and Brooke White had 12. Four players also had double figure digs and was led by Adison Miller's 11.
 
"Sam Houston State played so well today, especially defensively," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "Nothing off-speed scored for us today and when we gave them an easy opportunity, they hit it back at us with a lot of velocity. We have got to make some improvements on defense and our transition as we hit the heart of conference play."
 
McNeese (12-9, 4-3 SLC) trailed early in the first match but took advantage of some Cowgirl blocks and a few Bearkat errors to lead 15-8.  SHSU came back to tie the set but a kill by Rae Myers put the Cowgirls up 23-22. SHSU would score the next point to tie it up again but once again McNeese went up on a kill by Keegan Nelms to take a 24-23 lead before a SHSU attack error gave McNeese the first set win.
 
McNeese jumped out to a 8-3 lead then led 14-7 in the second set but the potent Bearkat offense behind Vaughn and Cunningham came back to tie the set at 16 all. The set would knot up two more times before SHSU would take the lead for good at 19-8 on a Ward kill. SHSU scored the next four points to extend its lead to 23-19 but the Cowgirls didn't go down without a fight. Back-to-back blocks by the Cowgirls brought the Cowgirls to within one point 24-23 but a kill by SHSU's Brooke White gave the Bearkats the second set victory to even the match at one set apiece.
 
After a brief intermission, the third set went back and forth in the beginning but with SHSU leading 17-12, SHSU would outscore McNeese 8-6 to take a 2-1 set lead with the third set win.
 
McNeese couldn't find an answer for the Bearkat offense and it didn't help that the Cowgirls struggled on defense and its transition.
 
SHSU opened set four up by taking an 8-2 lead and the Cowgirls never recovered, dropping the set 25-18.
 
McNeese will return to action next Thursday, Oct. 12 to host NW State in a 7 p.m. match.