DENVER, Co.—McNeese volleyball stumbled here Saturday against stiff competition on the final day of the Denver Classic, dropping its matches to Denver 3-0 (12-25, 14-25, 21-25), and UC-Santa Barbara 3-1 (19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 17-25) to conclude tournament play.
In the opening match of the day, McNeese (0-6), knew they were up for a big challenge against a Denver team that has won the last four Summit League Tournament titles. The Cowgirls couldn't find an answer for Becca Latham, who led all players with 15 kills on 19 attempts for a blistering .684 hitting percent.
"Denver has so many weapons and really played like a mature team who has won championships," said head coach
Ashleigh Fitzgerald. "I was happy that we narrowed the gap every set and I thought our setter/middle connection was better than yesterday."
Senior
Ebony Lewis led McNeese with seven kills, while
Alexandra Aguilera and
Caitlin Sharrock picked up 16 and 11 assists, respectively.
After dropping the first two sets against UCSB, McNeese avoided the straight set loss with a 25-22 third set win.
The Grouchos defense, who picked up 79 digs, stopped several Cowgirl attacks from turning into kills, putting McNeese in stressful situations.
"Santa Barbara is a good team that dug a lot of our balls," Fitzgerald said. "A lot of those balls they dug today, would have been kills against other teams. The long rallies stressed us into making us feel like we had to be perfect at times."
On the other hand, junior
Keegan Nelms came away with a season high 10 kills to lead McNeese in this category. Nelms completed her first double double of the season with 10 digs, one of three Cowgirls to pick up 10 or more digs.
Angela McGownd tallied 18 to lead the Cowgirls and Aguilera also recorded a double double with 18 assists. Sharrock matched Aguilera in the assists column with 18 as well.
"This was the best volleyball we have played all year and we got better this weekend, that is the reason we came out here."
UCSB had four players pick up double figure kills and were led by a match high 18 by Lindsey Ruddins. Olivia Lovenberg dished out a match high 54 assists, and Emilia Petrachi picked up a match high 30 digs.
McNeese will remain in Colorado for a 2 p.m. (CT) match at Air Force Monday afternoon.
