NATCHITOCHES—McNeese volleyball bounced from Thursday's dissapointing five set loss here Saturday behind a scrappy defense that recorded 52 digs to walk away with a straight set 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-19) Southland Conference win over Northwestern State.
 
McNeese (9-7, 3-2 SLC) was led in kills by freshman Aryn Johnson who tied her career high with 17. Johnson put down six of her 17 kills in the first set. Sophomore Macee Krpec was credited with 12 kills and is her fourth consecutive match with 10 or more kills. Krpec opened the match with seven kills on eight attempts without an error for an .875 hitting percent in the first set.
 
The Cowgirls took the early lead in all three sets and held as much as a seven point lead in set one. NW State got as close as three points in the set but the Cowgirls closed the set on a 5-2 run to take a 1-0 lead.
 
In set two, McNeese held an 8-4 early lead before the Demons tied the set at 16 apiece. McNeese would go on another run (9-5) to win the set to take an overall 2-0 lead.
 
The third set was just like the previous two with McNeese jumping out to a 12-7 lead before NW State responded to cut the lead to 13-12.  A kill by Johnson then seven straight points behind the serve of Lizzy Low put the Cowgirls up 21-12. McNeese would pick up the win on a NW State service error on match point.  
 
The loss drops NW State to 7-13 overall and 1-4 in the SLC
 
MATCH NOTES

• McNeese picked up 52 digs, It's the third in the last four match where the Cowgirls record 50 or more digs in a match
• McNeese out blocked NW State 16-9
• Aryn Johnson record a career high 17 kills to lead McNeese
• Macee Krpec ends the match with 12 kills, her fourth match with 10 or more kills
• Four Cowgirls end the match hitting over .300
• Bria Plante hit .667 (4 kills, no errors, 6 attempts)
• Ceci Harness continues her matches with 10 or more assists, she has dished out 10 or more assists in all but one match she has played in (15 of 16). She was credited with 22 in today's match
• Baylee Laskoskie now has dished out 10 or more assists in 10 matches. She had 14 assists and 10 digs today.
• Lizzy Low led all players with 19 digs
• Jaylin Gordon led all players with five blocks