CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas— For the second straight year, McNeese's volleyball season came to an end in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament with a straight set (25-23, 25-19, 25-19) loss to No. 2 seed and tournament host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The match featured four players who won Southland Conference postseason superlative honors.  Bailey Tillman (Libero of the Year) and Tshilanda Diouf (Freshman of the Year) for McNeese and Kyndal Payne (Player of the Year) and Belle Morgan (Setter of the Year) for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
"Our team fought really hard tonight but came up short," said head coach Sasha Karelov.  "Megan (Grose) did a great job finding out middles, Sanni Rantanen and Tshilanda Diouf in transition.  Bailey (Tillman) made some incredible defensive plays that kept us in the match and Kayla (Wilson and Carissa (Chainey) took aggressive swings in tough out-of-system situations.
 
Rantanen led the Cowgirls with 10 kills and a .375 hitting percent with only one error in 24 attempts.  Tillman ended the match with 18 digs which gives her 1,367 career digs which ranks her seventh in McNeese career kills.
 
It was the third loss of the season against the Islanders who improved to 22-9 on the season.  McNeese ends its season with a 16-17 overall record despite beginning the season 2-11.
 
"Our girls finished strong and played with a ton of grittiness and pride.  Looking back to day one to now, we a completely different team.
 
The match marked the end of the careers for seniors Neja Hanic and Revna Cakir.
 
"Thank you to our seniors, Neja and Revna for their leadership and team-first mentality this season."