ABILENE, Texas— McNeese volleyball may have lost its Southland Conference match at Abilene Christian 3-1 (17-25, 18-25, 25-20, 18-25) Saturday but the Cowgirls didn't go down without a fight.
 
McNeese (1-15, 0-2 SLC) held the early lead in three of four sets but after taking the third set to avoid a straight set loss, ACU (5-9, 2-0 SLC) came back to win the fourth set to take the match victory to improve to 2-0 in league play.
 
 Senior Ebony Lewis put together one of her best matches of her career, leading the Cowgirls with a career high 12 kills and a career high eight blocks.
 
Freshman Paige Havel also had another good match at the net with a career high eight blocks, bettering what was then a career high with six she picked up at Sam Houston State on Thursday.
 
Sophomore Allison Lippert was also a force at the net. Lippert tied her career high with six blocks today. She also recorded six blocks against ACU last season.
 
After dropping the first two sets, McNeese dominated the net in the third set by picking up five blocks to help the Cowgirls to the 25-20 win.
 
Lewis and Havel teamed up to pick up three points on kills by both players then they teamed up for a block assists that gave McNeese a 15-12 lead.
 
The Cowgirls continued to stay active at the net with another block and a kill by Havel to extend the lead to 19-14.
 
With McNeese leading 24-15, ACU scored five straight points to move to within 24-20 but Lippert's kill gave McNeese to third set win.
 
In the fourth set, and the match tied at 10 apiece, ACU scored four straight points to lead 14-10 then went on another run to extend the lead to 20-14.
 
Trailing 24-15, McNeese held off three match points before ACU scored the final point to take the set and the match.
 
McNeese will return home Tuesday, Sept. 25 for just the second time this season to host Prairie View in a 6:30 p.m. match.