LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball returns to the court this Thursday and Saturday to face the top two teams in the league in Houston Christian and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Cowgirls (7-12, 3-2 SLC) will host TAMU-CC (4-15, 4-1 SLC) in a 6:30 p.m. match Thursday then will travel to HCU (13-5, 5-0 SLC) for an 11 a.m. match Saturday. TAMU-CC is the preseason favorite to repeat as regular season champs while HCU was picked to finish second.
 
Thursday's match against the Islanders will be somewhat of a reunion for McNeese head coach Sasha Karelov, who spent the last three years as an assistant coach for the Islanders before being name the Cowgirls head coach.
 
McNeese enters this week's matches tied for fourth place with New Orleans, a team the Cowgirls defeated 3-0 last Saturday.
 
 MATCH NOTES
vs. TAMU-CC
• The Islanders are the preseason favorite to repeat as champions
• Enter the match in second place behind Houston Christian
• The last time the two teams met was at the 2021 Southland Conference Championship match, TAMU-CC defeated the Cowgirls 3-1.
• TAMU-CC has won the last 17 matches against McNeese
• The last McNeese win over TAMU-CC was a home win on Oct. 23, 2010
• McNeese has won three of its last five matches and enter the match on a two-match winning streak
• McNeese leads the nation in digs (1,370), are second on the nation in digs per set (18.51) and are third in the nation in blocks (182.5)
• Bailey Tillman ranks 6^th in the nation with 349 digs
 
vs. Houston Christian
 • Are atop the SLC standings undefeated at 5-0 heading into Thursday's match at Incarnate Word
• The two teams last met in the semifinal match of the SLC Tournament where the Cowgirls picked up a 3-1 win to advance to the championship match against TAMU-CC