HAMMOND— Third seed McNeese Volleyball advanced to the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament following its 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-11) straight set win over the No. 7 seed Texas A&M-Commerce (11-23) Friday evening. The Cowgirls will face No. 2 seed Southeastern at 3 p.m. Saturday. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
McNeese (18-15) came out aggressive in all phases of the match and it was evident by the Cowgirls defense who ended the match with 65 digs. The Lions ended the match with 47 digs.
On offense, the Cowgirls hit over .200 in all three sets and ended the match with a .342 hitting percent while the Lions hit .162 for the match.
Nejra Hanic led all players with a match high 10 kills while Dejah Dade was on point all night, ending the match with a .727 hitting percent. Dade was credited with nine kills, one error in 11 attempts.
On defense, three Cowgirls recorded double figure digs with
Bailey Tillman leading the way with a match high 17.
Lizzy Low had 11 and
Kendall Osgood had 10 digs.
SET 1:
The set started with both teams trading points until the Cowgirls went on a 7-0 run to lead 20-10. The Cowgirls' defense was on point with the Cowgirls picking up 30 digs in the opening set. Tillman picked up 10 of her 17 digs in the first set. The Cowgirls ended the match with a .217 hitting percent while AMC hit .089.
SET 2:
The Cowgirls continued their aggressive play and led 15-8 at the break. The Lions cut the lead to five points 20-15 then ended the match on a 5-3 run to win the set to take a 2-0 lead. The Cowgirls hit .476 in the set with 23 kills with three errors on 42 attempts to go along with 20 digs.
SET 3:
McNeese continued its impressive play and held a 16-8 lead on a Hanic kill. Leading 18-11, McNeese ended the match on a 7-0 run to seal the win.
McNEESE SLC TOURNAMENT NOTES
• made its 34
th SLC Tournament appearance
• looking to win its first SLC Tournament title
• has advanced to the SLC Tournament Championship match twice (2021, 1999)
• with the win over Texas A&M- Commerce, McNeese advances to its 10
th semifinals
• its the first SLC Tournament appearance under first year head coach Sasha Karelov
• tonight's win is the first conference tournament win for first year head coach Sasha Karelov
• ended the 2022 regular season with a 17-15 overall record
• ended the 2022 season in a 3-way tie for second place with a 13-5 record, the best conference record since 2003 (13-7)
• The 13 conference wins is the most wins since 2003 when that Cowgirl team posted a 13-7 SLC record
• The second-place conference finish for McNeese is the highest finish since 2006 when the Cowgirls also tied for 2
nd place
• is the tournament's No. 3 seed
• won 12 of its last 15 regular season matches
• Eight of the last 15 regular season wins were straight set wins
• Mia Perales has dished out 10 or more assists in 32 of 3 matches
•
Bailey Tillman has picked up 10 or more digs in 29 of 33 matches
•
Kendall Glueck has recorded 10 or more kills in 20 matches
• Skyeler Embry has three double doubles in last 7 matches
TOURNAMENT RESULTS/SCHEDULE
FIRST ROUND - Thursday, November 17
Match 1 – No. 5 Northwestern State vs. No. 8 UIW - 2 p.m.
Match 2 – No. 6 New Orleans vs. No. 7 Texas A&M-Commerce - 5 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS - Friday, November 18
Match 3 – Match 1 winner vs. No. 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi - 2 p.m.
Match 4 – Match 2 winner vs. No. 3 McNeese - 5 p.m.
SEMIFINALS - Saturday, November 19
Match 5 – Match 3 winner vs. No. 1 HCU - Noon
Match 6 – Match 4 winner vs. No. 2 Southeastern - 3 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH - Sunday, November 20
Championship Match - 2 p.m.
