CONWAY, AR.--  McNeese volleyball did something Thursday night no other Southland Conference team has been able to do all season in Conway, Arkansas and that was to defeat Central Arkansas on their home court. McNeese rallied from a two sets down to pick up its 19^th win of the season and extend its winning streak to five matches with the 3-2 (18-25, 18-25, 26-24, 25-17, 20-18) win to improve to 19-11 overall and 10-5 in the SLC.
 
The 19 wins for McNeese is the most since 2007 when the Cowgirls posted a 19-14 record under Dale Starr which current head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald served as an assistant coach.
 
The loss for UCA was only their second home loss this season and snapped their six match winning streak to fall to 23-4, 12-3 in the SLC. Two of the Sugar Bears' losses this season came against McNeese.
 
Things didn't look too good for the Cowgirls in the first two sets as McNeese struggled on offense, hitting .152 in the opening set and .194 in the second set with a combined 11 hitting errors but after intermission, McNeese put things together and got solid play from players in key times in the final three sets to pull off the win.
 
"Credit UCA, they played a great match," said Fitzgerald. "They earned so many points, and for a lot of the match, we had no answers. I love the heart of our team, though. We challenged some people to contribute after the break and they resoundingly responded at crucial times in the last three sets. I'm so pleased with how we stayed in the moment and thrilled to get 10 conference wins."
 
Junior Ebony Lewis played one of her better matches of the season as she was one of four Cowgirls with 10 or more kills. Lewis was credited with 15, one shy of tying her career high. Sophomore Keegan Nelms ended the match with 12 kills and a career high five blocks. Sophomore Katelyn Elliott and freshman Allison Lippert both had 10 apiece. The 10 for Lippert is her career best and she also had five blocks. Senior Adison Giambrone and junior Alexandra Aguilera share the setter duties, dishing out 22 and 21, respectively. Sophomore Angela McGownd led McNeese with 18 digs and Nelms was credited with 10 to mark her 11^th double-double of the season.
 
Both teams traded points early in the opening set. With UCA leading 21-17, the Sugar Bears went on to outscore the Cowgirls 4-1 to take the first set victory. The Cowgirls didn't help their cause by committing seven hitting errors and a .158 hitting percent.
 
UCA picked up where they left off in the opening set and continued their attack and blocking in the second set. McNeese stayed within reach, trailing by no more than three points until UCA took a 20-16 lead. From this point on the UCA's offense scored five of the final seven points of the set to take a second set 25-18 win.
 
McNeese opened the third set by taking a 3-0 lead then extended it to 11-6. UCA then went on a 7-1 run to take a 13-11 lead. McNeese made a run of its own to tie the set at 16 and the teams traded points. With the set tied at 24, Nelms picked up a kill for a 25-24 Cowgirl lead before UCA called a timeout. After the timeout, UCA's Savannah Allen committed a hitting error to give McNeese the third set 26-24 win to remain alive in the match.
 
The Cowgirls evened the match at two sets apiece with a 25-17 fourth set win. McNeese held an early lead in the set but like the previous three, the lead switched hands several times until Spree's kill gave McNeese the lead for good at 12-11. The Cowgirls increased their lead to 17-13 on kills by Myers and Nelms and a service ace by Fontenot. McNeese's offense continued to click with kills coming from three different players for the final points of the set.
 
The fifth set was another back and forth affair with again each team taking leads throughout the match, it was a matter who would be able to withstand the rally the longest as to who would come out on top.
 
In a normal five set match, the one to 15 first and leading by two points, wins the set, but that wasn't the case tonight.
 
Lewis came up with two huge kills with the match tied at 15 all to give McNeese a 17-15 lead. UCA would come back to tie the set at 18 apiece before McNeese would score the final two points to win the set and the match.
 
McNeese will conclude the regular season with an 11 a.m. match at Northwestern State Saturday.