CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—McNeese volleyball tried to do something here Friday that is very difficult to do in any sport and that is to defeat a team three times in a season, let alone twice in a week.
 
The Cowgirls, who defeated Central Arkansas the two previous times the two teams met during the regular season and most recently last Thursday were dealt a 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19) loss by the Sugar Bears in the opening round of the Southland Conference Tournament to end the Cowgirls' season.
 
Despite the loss, McNeese has nothing to hang their head about in a match that saw outstanding play on both sides of the net. The Cowgirls end their season with a 19-13 record which is the most wins since the 2007 season. McNeese also won 10 SLC regular matches which is also the most since the 2007 season.
 
"While we are sad our season is over, what a great year we had," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "We have great people on our team and they play really hard. Tonight we played with a lot of hear but UCA's blocking was huge and their whole right side always scores against us but tonight their left side really contributed offensively and they were operating on all cylinders," said Fitzgerald.
 
Four UCA players recorded double figure kills and digs. UCA was led with by 14 kills from Savanah Allen. The SLC's Player of the Year Samantha Anderson was credited with 12 kills. Abbie Harry ended with 11 and Haley Tippett picked up a double double with 10 kills and 14 digs. The Sugar Bears were led in blocks by Allen who had a game high eight and Anderson had seven.
 
The highly anticipated match didn't disappoint as both teams traded 25-23 wins in the first to sets to tie the overall match 1-1. After the break, UCA stepped up its blocking and got added offense from Allen and Tippett to carry the Sugar Bears to the next two set wins and the overall match.
 
Sophomores Keegan Nelms and Shanna Spree led the Cowgirls' offense with 11 and 10 kills apiece. Nelms picked up her 12^th double double of the year with 12 digs. Sophomore Angela McGownd picked up a match high 26 digs. Senior setter Adison Giambrone closed out her career by leading the Cowgirls with 24 assists while junior Alexandra Aguilera was credited with 17. Senior Rae Myers went out in style as she led McNeese with a season high seven blocks and one shy of tying her career high of eight. Freshman Allison Lippert tied her career high with six blocks.