HOUSTON, Texas—Juniors Keegan Nelms and Katelyn Elliott led McNeese volleyball with 11 and 10 kills, respectively but it wasn't enough in a 3-1 (18-25, 15-25, 25-16, 17-25) loss to Austin Peay Friday at the Rice Adidas Invitational II.

McNeese (1-11) wasn't able to continue its momentum from Wednesday's home opening win over Southern against Austin Peay, falling behind 2-0 after dropping the first two sets.

The Cowgirls avoided a straight set loss by winning set three, 25-16. With McNeese leading 11-9, the Cowgirls reeled off four straight points behind two Gov errors, a kill by Paige Havel and a Caitlin Sharrock ace.

A kill by Elliott and a block assists by Havel and Sharrock gave McNeese a 24-15 lead. Two points later, Havel's block solo gave McNeese the 25-16 third set win.

Both teams traded points early in the fourth set but a nine-point run by Austin Peay gave the Govs a 16-5 lead.  
McNeese didn't back down and made a run of its own by scoring six of seven points to cut the lead to 21-14 but that would be as close as McNeese would get, dropping the set 25-17.

After recording a career high 34 assists against Southern, Sharrock picked up her second consecutive 30-assist match with 30 on the day.

Ebony Lewis was credited with five blocks, a match and season high for the senior from Lake Charles.
Libero Angela McGownd was the only McNeese player to record double figure digs, ending the match with 13.

McNeese will conclude tournament play with a 1:30 p.m. match against Ole Miss and a 7 p.m. match against Rice on Saturday.