MOBILE, Ala.—McNeese volleyball suffered two losses here Saturday on the final day of the South Alabama Invitational with a straight set loss 0-3 (13-25, 16-25, 14-25) earlier in the day before concluding play with a heartbreaking five set loss to Alabama (25-22, 14-25, 26-28, 25-14, 9-15).
 
Despite going 0-3 on the weekend, the record doesn't reflect some good performances by individuals and the team throughout the weekend.
 
"What a good weekend for the Cowgirls," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "The record isn't indicative of how rewarding this weekend was for us. We stumbled against a very athletic and balanced South Alabama. We had spells of prolonged, really good volleyball during both the Southern Miss match Friday night and Alabama today. Our kids are showing a lot of heart and are continually improving," Fitzgerald said.
 
McNeese (2-4) really never got anything going in the loss to the balance and athletic South Alabama squad as the Cowgirls committed many hitting errors that were aided in 18 block assists by the Jaguars.
 
At times during the match, a very young Cowgirl team was on the court with three freshmen and three sophomores.
 
Sophomore Shanna Spree led the Cowgirls in kills for the second straight match with nine alone with a .471 hitting percent. Adison Giambrone was credited with 12 assist while freshman Madison Fontenot led McNeese with 12 digs while libero Angela McGownd picked up 10 digs.
 
McNeese suffered a heartbreaking five set loss to Alabama in the Cowgirls' final match of the tournament. The Cowgirls opened the match by taking a 1-0 lead with a first set 25-22 win. Alabama evened the match at one set apiece with a second set 25-14 win before taking a back and forth third set by a 28-26 score. McNeese bounced back with a 25-14 fourth set win to send the match into a deciding fifth set. Alabama would go onto take the set 15-9 and the match.
 
Keegan Nelms and Spree combined for 24 kills with Nelms leading the way with 13 and Spree ending the match with 11. Alexandra Aguilera led with 22 assists while Giambrone was credited with 16. McGownd was steady on defense as she picked up a career high 33 digs, after recording her previous career high 32 a week ago in the win over Houston. Fontenot added 19 digs and Giambrone finished off her double-double with 16 digs.
 
The Cowgirls were more active at the net on defense where they picked up 16 block assists and were led by five block assists by Jenny D'Alessandro. Spree and Ebony Lewis both ended the match with three block assists apiece.
The Cowgirls will host Grambling at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 4 in its home opener