LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball couldn't hold onto an early fifth set lead here Saturday, falling 3-2 (21-25, 28-26, 13-25, 29-27, 9-15) to Houston Baptist in a Southland Conference match. The five set match is the second for McNeese this week.
 
McNeese (8-10, 1-5 SLC) made a comeback after falling down 2-1 in the overall match. HBU opened the set with a 25-21 first set win before the Cowgirls evened the match one set a piece by taking set two 28-26. HBU (11-10, 3-3 SLC) jumped out to 7-2 lead in the third set and the Cowgirls couldn't recover, eventually dropping the set to give the Huskies the third set victory.
 
McNeese bounced back in set 4 by taking an early 6-3 lead then held a 12-9 lead. HBU hung around and scored three straight points to cut the McNeese lead to 14-13. The rest of the set consisted of 10 ties, the last one at 27 apiece on an HBU error. Another HBU error put McNeese up 28-27 then an Allison Lippert ace gave the Cowgirls the 29-27 fourth set win to force the match into a deciding fifth set.
 
Once again McNeese held and early lead in the final set, 6-3 and then again at 8-6 but a 6-0 run by HBU put them on top 12-8. A kill by Macee Krpec ended the Cowgirls drought before HBU closed out the set with three straight points to seal the win.
 
Four Cowgirls recorded double digit kills with Lippert lead the Cowgirls with a career high 13. Alexis Lambert added 11 kills along with 18 digs for a double double while Keegan Nelms also recorded a double double with 10 kills and 16 digs. Krpec picked up 10 kills.
 
Madison Fontenot led a trio of Cowgirls with a career high 27 digs. Kendall Glueck tied her career high with seven blocks while setters Caitlin Sharrock and Kendall Kilchrist dished out 29 and 22 assists, respectively.