DENVER, Co.— McNeese volleyball showed signs of improvement in some areas but it wasn't enough here Friday in the opening match of the Denver Classic against Sacramento State. McNeese will conclude tournament action with a 1 p.m. match against Denver and a 5 pm. Match against UC-Santa Barbara Saturday.
 
"Credit to Sacramento State, they played really well today," said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "Their left sides really challenged us and kept us on our toes. I was pleased with a lot of things I saw from our team today. We served a lot better today than we did last week and we defended pretty well after making improvements in our transition attacking."
 
McNeese (0-4) fell in four sets (24-26, 16-25, 25-15, 13-25) and was led by junior Katelyn Elliott's 10 kills, a career tying five blocks and a .368 hitting percent. Keegan Nelms added nine blocks while Angela McGownd led with 14 digs. Freshman Emilie Ickes made her collegiate debut and was credited with 13 digs. Caitlin Sharrock picked up the Cowgirls first double-double of the season with 17 assists and 10 digs. Freshman Amari Franklin also made her collegiate debut, was credited with 11 assists. Allison Lippert tied her season high with four blocks at the net.
 
"Katelyn did a great job on the right side today with it being her first time ever playing on the right side," Fitzgerald added. 
 
Elliott picked up where she left off last week by leading McNeese in a 26-24 first set loss that consisted of 15 ties and 13 lead changes. Elliot was credited with five kills on seven attempts without an error for a scorching .714 attack percent.
 
Sac State held its largest leads of three points midway through the set but the Cowgirls, with kills from Elliott and Nelms brought McNeese to within one (16-15). McNeese took advantage of three straight hitting errors to take an 18-16 lead.
 
Sac State retook the lead at 22-21 but a kill by Nelms tied it up again at 22 then an ace by Alexandra Aguilera gave the Cowgirls a 23-22 lead. McNeese was one point away from the picking up the first set victory but a McNeese ball handling error followed by a kill gave the Hornets a 25-24 advantage. A Cowgirl hitting error gave Sac State the first set, 26-24 win.
 
McNeese opened the second set with a 6-2 lead behind the serve of Ickes and kills by Nelms, Paige Havel and Sharrock but weren't able to sustain the lead. Sac State eventually tied the set at 10 all before going on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 19-12.
 
The Cowgirls came back to score the next three points on a kill by Nelms and two by Paige Havel to cut the lead to four, 19-15.