CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas—For the second time this season, McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi battled to a five set match here Thursday night but this time it was the Islanders who came out on top with a 3-2 (25-27, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 12-15).
 
Following tonight's results McNeese, Texas A&M-CC, and Houston Christian are all tied for first place in the SLC with three matches left in the regular season. All three teams are now 11-4 in the SLC.
 
McNeese (15-14, 11-4 SLC) was led in kills by McKenzie Moore with a career high 15, bettering her career high of 12 kills she had in the home win over the Islanders on Oct. 22.  Moore also had five blocks and ended the match with a .481 hitting percent.
 
Sanni Rantanen joined Moore in double figure kills with 12 and led the Cowgirls with a .611 hitting percent with one error in 18 attempts. Rantanen also led McNeese with six blocks.
 
As a team, McNeese ended the match with 22 blocks while the Islanders had 10. The evenly contested match ended with A&M-CC hitting .247 and McNeese hitting .242 as a team.
 
McNeese was credited with 76 digs and Bailey Tillman and Kendall Osgood both recorded double figure digs with 23 and 15, respectively while Mia Perales led the way with 24 assists and Dejah Dade dished out 16.
 
Texas A&M's Leah Stolfus led all players with a match high 23 kills while setter Faith Panhans dished out 60 assists.
 
McNeese will conclude its week with a 10 a.m. match at Incarnate Word Saturday.
 
 
SET 1
Neither team went ahead by more than one point until the Cowgirls took a 15-13 lead on an Islander serving error and a kill by McKenzie Moore.
 
The teams continued to trade points and the Cowgirls never trailed until the Islanders took a 26-25 lead on a Faith Panhans kills. The Islanders won the set on a kill by Ella Litterell.
 
SET 2
McNeese took a 2-1 lead and extended the lead to seven points (15-8) on a kill by McKenzie Moore.  Texas A&M-CC went on a run and cut the lead Cowgirl lead to three points (19-16) but following a timeout, three straight points by the Cowgirls put McNeese up 22-16. McNeese got its final three points from McKenzie Moore to win the set.
 
SET 3
McNeese led 15-11 heading into the media timeout but the Islanders scored three straight points out of the timeout to cut the lead to one (15-14) but a block by Sanni Rantanen sparked a four point run to extend its lead to 19-14 before taking advantage of several Islander errors in the final points to win the set.
 
SET 4
McNeese trailed by as many as four several times early in the set but pulled to within one point (14-13) behind the serve of Bailey Tillman.
 
A kill by Embry and an Islander error made tied the set at 15 apiece. McNeese took a two point lead 18-16 but a 9-3 run by A&M-CC the rest of the way gave the Islanders the win to send the match to a fifth set.
 
SET 5
With the set tied at four apiece, the Islanders scored the next three points to increase their lead to 7-4.  McNeese got as close as one (9-8) and 10-9 but the Islanders got a kill from Payne followed by a Cowgirl error and another kill by Tayah Little to go up 13-10. McNeese would score the next two points via an Islander error and an ace by Kendall Osgood to pull to within one point (13-12).  Back to back kills by Little and Morgan Baese gave the Islanders the fifth set win and the match.
 
 
McNEESE NOTES
• It's the second time this season both teams play to a fifth set with each team winning on its home court
• The loss snapped a seven match winning streak, the longest of the season
• McNeese has won 10 of its last 12 matches
• Seven of the last 11 wins have been in straight sets
• McKenzie Moore led McNeese in kills with a career high 15
• Mia Perales has dished out 10 or more assists in 28 of 29 matches
• Bailey Tillman has picked up 10 or more digs in 26 of 29 matches