LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball will make its 32^nd Southland Conference Tournament appearance when No. 6 seed McNeese faces No. 3 seed Sam Houston State at 4 p.m. Friday in Natchitoches, La. on the campus of Northwestern State. The tournament will conclude with the championship match set for 3:05 p.m. Sunday. The tournament appearance is the fourth straight under fifth year head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald.
 
Matches 1-6 will be streamed on the Southland Digital Network (Southland.org/live) and Southland apps. The championship game will be streamed on ESPN+ (ESPNPlus.com) and ESPN apps.
 
McNeese (10-21) ended the regular season on a two-match winning streak and won three of its last four matches to tie for eighth place. McNeese earned the no. 6 seed due to the tie-breaker rule.
 
The Cowgirls are led by junior Keegan Nelms, a second team All-Southland Conference pick. Nelms is the teams' leader in kills with 299 and is second on the team with 245 digs and 21 service aces.  
 
Freshman Paige Havel and sophomore Allison Lippert have been steady at the net form the Cowgirls. Havel leads the team with 135 blocks while Lippert has 100 to her credit. Havel also leads with a .207 hitting percent.
 
Junior Angela McGownd has led McNeese in digs all year and enters the tournament with 479 for an average of 4.35 per set.
 
Over the course of the season, the Cowgirls have utilized two setters in sophomore Caitlin Sharrock and freshman Amari Franklin. Sharrock has dished out 612 assists (6.12 per set) and Franklin has 317 for an average of 6.74 per set.
 
Sam Houston State (21-7) ended the season having lost two of its last three matches but the losses were to the top two seeds in regular season champion Stephen F. Austin and no. 2 seed Central Arkansas. Both matches were played on the road.
 
This will be the second meeting between the two teams with the Bearkats winning the first meeting 3-1 (15-25, 25-22, 16-25, 18-25) in Huntsville, Texas on Sept. 20.
 
The Bearkats are led by Taylor Cunningham, the SLC Player of the Year. Cunningham averages 3.90 kills per game with a .301 hitting percent. She is also second on the team with 339 digs, averaging 3.36 per set.
 

2018 Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament Schedule
Friday, November 16, 2018
11:00 AM - Game 1 - No. 1 Stephen F. Austin vs. No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
1:30 PM - Game 2 - No. 4 Abilene Christian vs. No. 5 Houston Baptist
4:00 PM - Game 3 - No. 3 Sam Houston State vs. No. 6 McNeese
6:30 PM - Game 4 - No. 2 Central Arkansas vs. No. 7 Northwestern State

Saturday, November 17, 2018
NOON - Game 5 - Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2
2:30 PM - Game 6 - Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4

Sunday, November 18, 2018
3:05 PM - Championship - Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6