CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—McNeese volleyball battled throughout its Southland Conference match against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday but couldn't pull out a victory to end their three-week match falling 3-0 (25-27, 25-27, 22-25).
 
The loss drops McNeese to 7-18 overall and 5-5 in the SLC while AMCC improves to 6-17 and also 5-5 in SLC play.
 
"Hats off to Corpus, they played some really scrappy defense and they did a good job of transition attacking," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald.
 
"On our side, we actually defended pretty well for large chunks of the match. There were just a few points at the end of sets where we didn't make as quality of a dig as we needed to and we couldn't take big swings to finish sets out. It was a well played match by both teams," Fitzgerald said.
 
McNeese out dug AMCC 54-49 and was led by libero Angela McGownd's 17 digs. Setter Caitlin Sharrock picked up 10 and completed a double double with 40 assists, her third match this season with 40 or more assists.
 
Keegan Nelms and Katelyn Elliott led McNeese with 11 kills apiece and for the second straight match Allison Lippert was a force at the net, leading the Cowgirls with five blocks.
 
McNeese let leads slip away several times during the match. The Cowgirls jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set then led 23-20 and were one point away (24-22) from picking up the first set win before the Islanders would outscore the Cowgirls 3-1 to take the set 27-25.
 
The second set was nearly identical to the first with both teams trading points throughout the set. McNeese had a chance to take the set after a kill by Lippert gave the Cowgirls a 25-24 lead but AMCC would tie the set at 25 on a kill then a Cowgirl error gave the Islanders a 26-25 lead. AMCC used a block assists to pick up the second set 27-25 win to take an overall 2-0 match lead.
 
McNeese held as much as a four-point lead (14-10) in the third set but let that lead slip away and AMCC took the lead for good after an 18-18 tie.
 
With the Islanders leading 22-18, McNeese did make a late push on a kill by Ebony Lewis and a AMCC error to get within two points (22-24) before a kill by AMCC ended the match.
 
McNeese will play at home for five of its final six regular season matches including its next three at home. McNeese will host Stephen F. Austin on Oct. 25, UCA on Oct. 27 and Lamar on Oct. 30 to close out the month.