By: Pam LaFosse
Box Score LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball and Houston Christian entertained fans with an exciting Southland Conference match Saturday in what turned out to be a defensive battle that consisted of 26 ties, including 13 ties in the first set.
Both teams were equally impressive on defense, but it was McNeese who came out on top, defeating the Huskies in straight sets 3-0 (27-25, 25-13, 27-25) to improve to 9-13 overall and 7-2 in the SLC and more important the win puts the Cowgirls in sole possession of third place behind Southeastern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Junior
Carissa Chainey led the Cowgirl offense with a match high 14 kills and hit .263 on the day.
The Cowgirl defense was led by the back row of
Bailey Tillman and
Kendall Osgood. Tillman led all players with a match high 21 digs while Osgood added 17. The Cowgirls also produced at the net where they were credited with 12 blocks led by four from
Sanni Rantanen.
McNeese had another good match from the service line where they recorded eight service aces. Chainey and
Tshilanda Diouf both had three aces apiece to lead the way.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
• The set was back and forth until a kill by
Carissa Chainey gave McNeese an 18-17 lead.
• An ace by
Bailey Tillman put the Cowgirls up 21-18, the largest lead by either team in the set.
• With McNeese leading 24-22, HCU staved off three set points to take a 25-24 lead
• Chainey put down two straight kills to give McNeese the 26-25 lead before the Cowgirls claimed the set on a HCU hitting error.
Set 2
• With the set tied at nine apiece, McNeese went on a 3-0 run behind the serve of
Kendall Osgood to extend the lead to 12-9
• Another run by McNeese, a 7-3 run behind the serve of
McKenzie Moore put the Cowgirls up 19-12
• After a McNeese serving error, Chainey got the Cowgirls back on track with a kill then served for the next four points for a 23-13 McNeese lead.
•
Kayla Wilson's kills put the Cowgirls up 24-13 before the match ended on another HCU error.
Set 3
• Another back and forth set but McNeese held an early 13-9 lead
• HCU battled back to tie the set at 14
• The set would tie up eight more times with the last being at 25 apiece
• Chainey's kills put the Cowgirls up 26-25 before Moore closed out the match with her only ace of the match
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• McNeese went undefeated on the week at 2-0 with wins over Northwestern State and Houston Christian
•
Carissa Chainey led all players with 14 kills
• The Cowgirls' back line of defense was led by
Bailey Tillman and
Kendall Osgood who combined for 38 of the Cowgirls' 65 digs in the match
• Tillman led all players with a match high 21 digs
• Osgood was the only other Cowgirl to record double digit digs with 17
• McNeese ended the match with 12 blocks
•
Sanni Rantanen led the Cowgirls with four blocks while
Kayla Wilson was credited with three
•
Tshilanda Diouf and Chainey both led McNeese with three aces apiece
•
Megan Grose dished out a match high 39 assists
