NATCHITOCHES—McNeese volleyball's season came to an end here Friday at the Southland Conference Tournament with a 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 14-25, 24-26) loss to No. 3 seed Sam Houston State.
 
McNeese ends its season with a 10-22 record while Sam Houston State (22-7) advances to the semifinal round against winner of the no. 2 seed UCA and no. 7 seed Northwestern State.
 
"We played hard today, but credit Sam Houston State," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "Sam Houston State scrambled well and found quality transition opportunities where as we made a lot of amazing digs but couldn't quite get the quality swings out of them."
 
The Cowgirls opened the match by taking the first set  25-23, but the Bearkats went on to win the next three sets to advance.
 
Three Cowgirls recorded double figure kills with second team All-SLC Keegan Nelms leading McNeese with 15 kills. Allison Lippert and Katelyn Elliott had 10 apiece. Setters Caitlin Sharrock and Amari Franklin dished out 24 and 22 assists, respectively.
 
Libero Angela McGownd led all players with 27 digs while defensive specialist Alexandra Aguilera was credited with 16.
 
Taylor Cunningham, the Southland's Player of the Year, ended the match with a double double with 18 kills and 10 digs. Ashley Lewis picked up 11 kills. Two other Bearkats recorded double figure digs, led by 21 from Madison Wallace. Addison Miller was credited with 13.
 
The match ended the careers for three Cowgirls seniors- Alexandra Aguilera, Ebony Lewis and Shanna Spree.
 
"I'm really proud that our group  stayed with it all year long and that they came to practice with great attitudes all season. It would have been easy to cash it in with the start we had, but they trusted is and each other and we played stretches of really good volleyball to close out our season," Fitzgerald said.