LAKE CHARLES— McNeese volleyball picked up a five set (25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 14-25, 15-13) Southland Conference win over East Texas A&M Thursday, its first five set match of the season.
"I'm just glad we came out on the winning end of this match," said head coach
Tayler Gray. "The best phase of their game is serving, in my opinion and I thought we let them get away with that in the third and fourth set. I told them to just pass the ball in the fifth set, if we just pass the ball, we will be fine."
McNeese improved to 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the SLC with the win while East Texas A&M falls to 8-12 overall and 2-5 in the SLC with the loss.
The Cowgirls jumped out to a 2-0 overall match lead behind a .417 hitting percent in set one where the Cowgirls committed only two hitting errors in the set. McNeese hit .267 in set two.
The Lions avoided the sweep by picking up the third set 25-18 win then evened the match by cruising to a 25-14 fourth set win, sending the match to a deciding fifth set.
The fifth set went back and forth and consisted of five ties and two lead changes. With the Cowgirls leading 12-11, a kill by
Ava Henry and a Lion attack error put McNeese up 14-11, the largest lead for either team in the set.
ETAM scored the next two point on a McNeese error and a Lion ace to cut the lead to one point at 14-13. Senior
Kayla Wilson ended the match on her 12
th kill of the match.
Wilson was one of three Cowgirls to record double figure kills.
Gabbie Maldonado led McNeese with 16 kills and
Ava Henry added 13 kills.
"We are getting better production from a lot of players right now. I told them to be the team that is on a string, stay connected- don't let your body language drop and don't let the communication drop and that's what happened in sets three and four and that's kind of why we got dismantled."
Setters
Corynne Hausler and
Megan Grose both ended the match with 24 assists apiece.
Sophia Tocmo ended the match with 31 digs to become the first McNeese freshman libero to reach 300 digs in the rally era. She entered the match with 298 digs.
Gaby Santiago ended the match with a career high 18 digs and
Carli Banks ended the match with 10 digs.
East Texas A&M's Ariana Brown led all players with a match high 22 kills.
McNeese will remain home to host Northwestern State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
McNEESE NOTES
• It's the first five set match for McNeese this season
• McNeese recorded 11 blocks.
Ava Henry led McNeese with three blocks.
• Freshman
Sophia Tocmo became the first McNeese freshman libero to reach 300 digs in a season. Tocmo entered the match with 298 digs.
• Three McNeese players recorded double figure kills (
Gabbie Maldonado- 16,
Ava Henry- 13,
Kayla Wilson- 12
• Setters
Corynne Hausler and Megan Gros had 24 assists apiece
•
Gaby Santiago picked up a career high 18 digs
•
Carli Banks also ended the match with double figure digs, ending with 10
UPCOMING COWGIRL MATCHES
Oct. 17 Northwestern State* (1 p.m.)
Oct. 22 at Incarnate Word* (6 p.m.)
Oct. 24 at Houston Christian* (11 a.m.)
Oct. 29 Southeastern* (6 p.m.)
Oct. 31 LSU New Orleans* (10 a.m.)
*- Southland Conference Match
