LAKE CHARLES—McNeese junior libero Bailey Tillman picked up her 1,000^th career dig Tuesday night as the Cowgirls ended their three-match home stand with a straight set (25-16, 25-17, 29-27) Southland Conference victory over Nicholls to remain undefeated in league play at 3-0. 
 
With the win, McNeese improves to 5-11 overall and the loss drops Nicholls to 2-11 overall and 0-3 in the SLC.
 
The native of Sugar Land, Texas, and this week's Southland Conference "Defensive Player of the Week" entered the match needing 17 digs and reached the milestone early in the third set to become the 18^th McNeese player to pick up 1,000 career digs.  Tillman wasn't done yet as she ended the match with 23 digs to lead all players.
 
As a team, McNeese hit .331 on 51 kills, 11 errors on 121 attempts while the Colonels hit .197 on 37 kills, 14 errors on 117 attempts.
 
Three Cowgirls reached double figure kills, led by Kayla Wilson's match high 12.  McKenzie Moore and Carissa Chainey both chipped in with 11 kills apiece.  Moore was nearly perfect on the night as she hit a blistering .625 with only one error in 16 attempts.
 
Setter Emma Hendricks continued her solid play and dished out 41 assists.  
 
The Cowgirls will now hit the road for a Thursday Southland Conference match at Incarnate Word before ending a three-match week with a Saturday match at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.  
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
• The set stayed close until McNeese took a 13-12 lead on an Emma Hendrick's dump kill
• McNeese went on an 8-3 run behind four straight points off the serve of Bailey Tillman and a McKenzie Moore kill and service ace to lead 21-15.
• Following a Nicholls timeout, Nicholls score on a McNeese service ace but a Sanni Rantanen kill gave the point back to the Cowgirls.
• Carissa Chainey then served out the set behind kills from Rantanen and Wilson and a Nicholls error
 
Set 2
• After an early 2-2 tie, Emma Hendricks served for four straight points to put the Cowgirls up 5-3.  The Colonels pulled to within one point a few times with the last time at 12-11
• Five straight points by McNeese gave the Cowgirls a 17-12 lead
• McNeese went on to outscore Nicholls 8-5 the rest of the way to win the set for a 2-0 lead
 
Set 3
• Nicholls took an early 6-3 lead and then held its largest lead of five points (15-10)
• A 6-0 run by the Cowgirls gave McNeese its first lead of the set at 16-15
• The lead was short lived as a Cowgirl service error tied the set at 16.
• With the set tied at 17, McNeese scored four of the next five points to lead 22-21
• Nicholls would eventually take a 24-22 lead but a kill by Hendricks and a Nicholls error evened the set at 24
• After three more ties, McKenzie Moore put the Cowgirls up 28-27 on a kill before Moore and Revna Cakir teamed for a block assist to end the match.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• It's the third straight win for the Cowgirls who remained undefeated at 3-0 in the SLC
• Junior Bailey Tillman recorded her 1,000^th career dig early in the third set and ended the match with 23 digs
• The Cowgirls produced their highest hitting percent of the season ending the match with a .331 hitting percent
• Three Cowgirls ended the match with double figure kills with Kayla Wilson leading the way with 12.  McKenzie Moore and Carissa Chainey both had 11
• Moore led the Cowgirls with a .625 hitting percent on the night with only one error in 31 attempts
• Emma Hendricks dished out a match high 41 assists