LAKE CHARLES-- McNeese volleyball bid farewell to its 2017 seniors (Adison Giambrone, Rae Myers, Jenny D'Alessandro) and Memorial Gym Saturday on Senior Day with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-16 25-14) straight set win over Southeastern Louisiana to clinch a Southland Conference Tournament berth.
The game marked the final home match for the seniors as well as the volleyball program who will start playing its home matches in its new facility that is currently being constructed in front of the Jack Doland Fieldhouse. Completion of the new facility is expected for June of 2018.
With the win, McNeese improves to 18-11 overall and 9-5 in the SLC. The loss dropped SE La. to 3-25 overall and 1-13 in the SLC. The 18 wins are the most for McNeese since 2007 when that team went 19-14. The tournament berth is the third consecutive berth and third in head coach
Ashleigh Fitzgerald's four years at the helm of the program.
McNeese used a balanced attack on offense and got key blocks in the match with the Cowgirls ending the match with a .237 hitting percent and nine team blocks. Several Cowgirls contributed to the win as 10 players saw the court.
Sophomores Shanna Spree and Katelyn Elliott led the Cowgirls with eight kills apiece. Myers ended the match with seven kills and Ebony Lewis had six. Giambrone dished out a match high 19 assists while freshman Caitlin Sharrock was credited with 14. D'Alessandro led the blocking attack with five. Elliott picked up four and Spree had two. Sophomore libero Angela McGownd led McNeese with 10 digs and Keegan Nelms picked up nine.
In the opening set, McNeese came back from a 15-9 deficit to even the set at 17 apiece on two service aces by Sharrock, two kills by Spree and three Lion errors. After a brief SE La. lead, McNeese tied it at 19 before scoring three straight points aided by kills from Myers and Elliott to take a 22-19 lead. The teams would tie again at 22 all before McNeese would take advantage of two SE La. errors to lead 24-23. What better way to end the first set win on a combination from two seniors. Myers ended the set with a kill off an assist from Giambrone for the 25-23 win.
The Lions jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the second set but after a Sharrock kill put McNeese up 10-9, the Cowgirls never led the lead slip away and held as much as an eight point lead before going on to pick up the second set win.
After intermission, it was McNeese who jumped out to a 7-1 lead before extending it to 12-4. With a 19-12 lead, McNeese scored five straight points to hold a 24-12 lead. After two McNeese errors, Lewis sealed the win with a kill.
