BEAUMONT, Texas—McNeese volleyball ended its week with a straight set 3-0 (25-11, 25-23, 25-18) win over Lamar here Saturday in its "Battle of the Border" match to improve to 10-13 overall and 6-3 in the Southland Conference. The loss drops Lamar to 7-13 overall and 1-8 in the SLC.
"This was our best serving match of the season," said head coach
Sasha Karelov. "We were being aggressive and mixing up our depths really well. Mia (Perales) and Dejah (Dade) ran a really balanced offense. Skyeler (Embry) was steady for us offensively with her off-blockr defense. We felt in control the whole match, which is a great feeling."
The Cowgirls placed three players in double figure kills with
Nejra Hanic and
Kendall Glueck leading all players with 11 apiece.
Skyeler Embry tied her career high with 10 kills. Hanic also ended the match with a .333 hitting percent, committing only two errors with 27 attempts.
McNeese ended the match with a .282 hitting percent with 40 kills, 9 errors on 110 attempts and tied its season high with 10 service aces.
Freshman
Sanni Rantanen was responsible for a career high five of the 10 Cowgirl service aces. Rantanen picked up four of her five aces in the opening set that spear headed a Cowgirl 9-0 run.
Setters
Mia Perales and
Dejah Dade combined to dish out 32 of the 40 McNeese assists. Perales dished out 20 assists while Dade had 12.
Bailey Tillman continued her solid play in the back row by leading the Cowgirls with 20 digs.
SET 1
McNeese took a 2-1 lead on a kill by
Skyeler Embry and never looked back. Leading 7-3, McNeese went on a 9-0 run behind the serve of
Sanni Rantanen, who served four service aces during the run to extend its lead to 16-3 lead before closing out the set to take a 1-0 lead.
SET 2
McNeese broke an 11-11 tie by outscoring Lamar 5-1 to take a 16-12 lead. The Cardinals would score the next three points to pull to within one (16-15). A block assists by Rantanen and
Nejra Hanic gave McNeese a 20-18 lead. With the Cowgirls leading 22-19, two Lamar kills and a Cowgirl error tied the set at 22. Out of a Cowgirl timeout, McNeese scored the next two points to take a 24-22 lead then Lamar wins the next point. A Lamar service error gives McNeese the 25-23 second set win.
SET 3
The set went back and forth early on that consisted of 10 ties. McNeese took advantage of a Lamar attack error to take a 16-15 lead and ended the set on a 9-3 run behind kills by
Kendall Glueck and
Skyeler Embry down the stretch.
MATCH NOTES
• McNeese ends its week undefeated at 2-0 with the win
• Three Cowgirls recorded double figure kills (
Nejra Hanic-11,
Kendall Glueck- 11,
Skyeler Embry- 10)
•
Skyeler Embry tied her career high with 10 kills
• The double figure kills by Glueck is her 15
th of the season
• The double figure kills by Hanic is her third straight
•
Mia Perales dish out double figure assist for the 22
nd time this season
•
Bailey Tillman picked up 10 or more digs for the 20
th match this season
•
Sanni Rantanen recorded five career service aces
