NATCHITOCHES--  To say McNeese volleyball struggled in its straight set Southland Conference loss (20-25, 16-25, 16-25) to Northwestern State Thursday night is an understatement. The proof is in the numbers and Northwestern State had the better numbers in almost every statistical category.
 
"We really ran into a buzz saw tonight," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "Northwestern State played incredibly well and we weren't ready to compete at their intensity level, which was really disappointing. We need to regroup from this quickly," Fitzgerald said.
 
McNeese (5-16, 3-3 SLC) was held to a .000 hitting percent for the match on 15 kills, 15 errors and 85 attempts and three of the Cowgirls' top hitters were held to a negative hitting percent.
 
The Demons (7-10, 3-4 SLC) produced a .307 hitting percent which played a big part in snapping the Cowgirls' four-match winning streak.
 
The Cowgirls had a hard time getting into a rhythm and never matched the Demons intensity level from the opening serve. When McNeese was able to put balls across the net, NW State was there to pick up the dig, ending the match with 48. McNeese was credited with 30 digs.
 
McNeese did out block NW State 13-8 and was led by four from Paige Havel. Allison Lippert was the only Cowgirl to hit in positive numbers, ending the match with a .500 hitting percent on five kills, one error on eight attempts. Angela McGownd led the Cowgirls with 11 digs and Caitlin Sharrock had nine assists and Amari Franklin picked up five assists.
 
NSU's Reagan Rogers led all players with 10 kills and Channing Burleson dished out a match high 35 assists.  
 
McNeese will look to salvage the weekend when they will travel to Hammond on Saturday to face Southeastern Louisiana in a 1 p.m. match.