HAMMOND— McNeese volleyball's season came to an end here Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (22-25, 29-27, 22-25, 21-25) loss to Southeastern in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
McNeese ends its season with and 18-16 record under first year head coach Sasha Karelov.
 
Nejra Hanic and Sanni Rantanen paced McNeese in kills with 14 and 11, respectively.  The Cowgirls had four players record double figure digs with Bailey Tillman leading the way with 23. McKenzie Moore led the Cowgirls with six blocks and Mia Perales led McNeese with 21 digs.  
 
 
Set 1
The set was back and forth and consisted of 14 ties. McNeese led 22-21 Southeastern scored the sets final four points to win the set. 
 
Set 2
McNeese held and 11-7 lead but the Lions scored four straight points to even the set a 11 apiece.  McNeese responded with three straight points to lead 14-11.  The Cowgirls 6-4 run to lead 20-15 then led 22-20 before the Lions tied the set at 23 all.
 
Set 3
Another back and forth set with the Cowgirls leading 15-14 at the break. Southeastern scored the next two point out of the timeout to take a 17-15 lead but the Cowgirls answered by winning the nest three points to lead 18-17.  Southeastern outscored the Cowgirls 8-4 the rest of the way to win the set 25-22 to take a 2-1 overall match lead.
 
Set 4
With the set tied at 12, Southeastern scored the next four points to lead 16-14.  McNeese got within four points (22-18) following a kills by Rantanen but couldn't close the gap as Southeastern went on to win the set 25-21.
 
McNEESE SLC TOURNAMENT NOTES
• made its 34^th SLC Tournament appearance
• it was the 10^th semifinal appearance for McNeese
• is the first SLC Tournament appearance under first year head coach Sasha Karelov
• ended the 2022 season with an 18-16 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
• was 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 33 of 34 matches
• Bailey Tillman picked up 10 or more digs in 30 of 34 matches
• Kendall Glueck has recorded 10 or more kills in 20 matches
• Skyeler Embry recorded three double doubles in last 8 matches