ABILENE, Texas—McNeese volleyball showed why its the best digging team in the Southland Conference here Tuesday night in the first of three straight road matches this week with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-17) win against Abilene Christian.
 
McNeese (10-7, 2-1 SLC) put forth its best defensive effort of the season and collected 71 digs along with eight blocks.
 
The loss for ACU is their third straight to fall to 4-10 overall and 1-2 in the SLC. The loss is also the second straight home loss for the Wildcats, the last time ACU lost back-to-back home matches was in 2014.
 
"What a quality win for our team and a way to respond after a tough one against HBU last week," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "We played with a lot of heart and guts and this was by far the best floor defense we played this season. Just some tremendous digging," said Fitzgerald.
 
Four Cowgirls recorded 10 or more digs tonight and were led by libero Angela McGownd's 17. Keegan Nelms ended the night with a double-double, leading the Cowgirls with 15 kills along with 16 digs. Adison Giambrone also picked up a double-double with 11 digs and dished out a match high 25 assists. Alexandra Aguilera joined Nelms and Giambrone with a double-double (10 digs, 19 assists).
 
Jenny D'Alessandro, Shanna Spree and Ebony Lewis provided the blocking up front for the Cowgirls, combining for a total of 11 blocks. D'Alessandro and Spree ended the night with four apiece and Lewis had three.
 
Five Cowgirls hit above .300 and were led by sophomore Katelyn Elliott's .381 hitting percent. Elliott came off the bench to pick up 10 kills on 21 attempts with only two errors. As a team, McNeese had a .286 hitting percent and held ACU to a .187 hitting percent.
 
McNeese opened up the first two sets by scoring the first point of each set and never let the lead get away in either set on its way to taking a 2-0 overall match lead.
 
After dropping the third set, McNeese opened the fourth set by taking an 11-6 lead after a Spree service ace. The Cowgirls took their largest lead of the set (19-12) on a Lewis kill. McNeese would outlast ACU and win the set and the overall match on a Nelms kill.
 
McNeese will remain on the road and will travel to San Antonio Thursday for a 7 p.m. match against Incarnate Word.