MOBILE , Al.—Sophomore Shanna Spree recorded a career high 12 kills and senior Jenny D'Alessandro picked up 10 kills to lead McNeese despite falling 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 17-25) to Southern Miss here Friday afternoon on the first day of the South Alabama Jaguar Invitational.
 
McNeese will face South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. and Alabama at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Livestats will be provided for both matches. Free live streaming will be available for the South Alabama match only. All links can be found on the McNeese volleyball schedule page on mcneesesports.com.
 
Spree also ended the match with a .310 hitting percent while Haley Schneider hit .312 with seven kills in 16 attempts and only two errors. Both Cowgirls setters, Adison Giambrone and Alexandra Aguilera dished out 20 assists apiece.
 
On the defensive side, three Cowgirls picked up double figure digs and were led by Angela McGownd's 16. Keegan Nelms was credited with 15 and freshman Madison Fontenot collected 12.
 
McNeese came out a little sluggish in the opening set of the match giving up six points on errors to trail 11-8 early in the first set. After settling down, and trailing 18-12, McNeese outscored the Eagles 7-2 to tie the set at 20 all on a block assist by D'Alessandro and Kaitlyn Elliott. The Cowgirls would stay within on point following a kill by Elliott and then again on a bad set by Southern Miss before a kill by Rae Myers tied the set again at 23. A kill by S. Miss then an error by the Cowgirls gave the Eagles a first set 25-23 win.
 
The Cowgirls came out with a sense of urgency and took advantage of several Southern Miss errors in the second set to take an early 14-6 lead. Two more Southern Miss errors and a service ace by Shanna Spree extended the Cowgirl lead to 14-6. After taking a 23-14 lead, S. Miss scored four straight points to cut the McNeese lead to 23-18. Following a timeout, Haley Schneider's kill put the Cowgirls up 24-18 but the Eagles wouldn't go away as they scored the next two points for a 24-20 lead before Myers' kill gave McNeese the second set win.
 
The Eagles then took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-22 third set win before taking the match with a 25-17 fourth set score.