MATCH INFO
• Opponent: Lamar
• Date: Saturday, Oct. 3
• First Serve: 12 p.m.
• Location: Lake Charles
• Venue: Townsley Law Arena
 
SERIES RECORD
• McNeese leads the series 27-13 and have won seven of the last 10 matches.
• Lamar has won three of the last four matches including both matches last season.
• McNeese is 13-5 overall at home against Lamar since 2002. 
 
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McNEESE NOTES 
• Enter the match on a three-match losing streak and looking for its first SLC win of the season following its 3-1 home loss to Stephen F. Austin on Thursday.
 
• McNeese had three players with 10 or more kills against SFA.  Gabbie Maldonado led all players with 15 kills while both Kayla Wilson and Ava Henry both had 14.
 
• The first five conference matches for McNeese will be against the top five SLC preseason picks as voted by the coaches.  UTRGV (#2), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (#3), SFA (#1), Lamar (#5), and Southeastern (#4).
 
• McNeese was picked to finish 9th in the SLC preseason poll.
 
• As a team, McNeese leads the SLC and ranks 10th in the nation in digs per set (16.61).
 
• Freshman Sophia Tocmo ranks 4th in the nation with 5.39 digs per set and 27th in total digs with 248 heading into Saturday's match.
 
• Tocmo has recorded double figure digs in the last 13 matches and recorded her first career double double with a career high 33 digs and 13 assists against Oral Roberts on Sept. 19.
 
• Senior setter Megan Grose has dished out double figure assists in all 14 matches including a season high 24 against Gramling on Sept. 17.  Grose leads the team with 207 assists.
 
• Junior setter Corynne Hausler recorded her third double double of the season (23 ast., 10 digs) against ORU on Sept. 19.  She has dished out at least 10 assists in 10 matches including the last four matches. She is second on the team with 205 assists.
• Kayla Wilson leads the team with 132 kills. Wilson has recorded double figure kills in seven of the last eight matches.
 
• Sophomore Ava Henry continues to lead McNeese with 32 blocks and is second on the team with 127 kills.
 
• McNeese is one of two D1 volleyball programs whose entire staff is in their first year of collegiate coaching.  Indiana State University's staff is the other school.
 
• The Cowgirls will play 11 home matches this season including two matches in its own Cowgirl Classic.  Of the 11 home matches, eight are conference matches.
 
• McNeese returns nine players (Corynne Hausler, Carli Banks, Maleah Mutterback, Sophie Twigg, Bailey Foolkes, Mary-Alice Dohmann, Neal Grace Berry, Kayla Wilson, Ava Henry) from last season and one from its 2024 team (Megan Grose).
• The 2026 team also consists of three transfers (Gabbie Maldonado, Harmony Soles, Harmony Jackson) and four freshmen (Sophia Tocmo, Danyele Wallace, Gaby Santiago, Aaniyah Kitchen) 
 
• Sophomores Ava Henry and Bailey Foolkes are second generation Cowgirls. Ava's mother (Eunice) played basketball and her father (Adam), who serves as the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach, played football at McNeese.  Foolkes' mother (Shannon) played volleyball while her father (Trevor) ran cross country for McNeese.  Adam and Shannon are both McNeese Hall of Famers.
 
• First year head coach Tayler Gray made her collegiate debut as a D1 head coach against Miami (OH) on Aug. 28 at the Bearkat Invitational. Gray picked up her first career win, a straight set win at Grambling on Sept. 11. 
 
• When the Cowgirls and Sam Houston met on Aug. 29 at the Bearkat Invitational, it was a mother-daughter D1 head coaches' matchup.  Tayler's mother Brenda is the Bearkats' head coach.  They are the only mother-daughter D1 head coaches this season and possibly the first in NCAA history.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
LAMAR
• Picked to finish 5th in the preseason poll
• Enter the match 4-12 overall and 1-2 in the SLC
• Have lost their last two matches a five-setter home loss against Southeastern on Sept. 26 and most recently a straight set loss at Nicholls on Thursday.
 
UPCOMING COWGIRL MATCHES
Oct. 3 Lamar* (12 p.m.)
Oct. 8 at Southeastern* (6:30 p.m.)
Oct. 10 at LSU New Orleans* (11 a.m.)
Oct. 15 East Texas A&M* (6 p.m.)
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.)
Nov. 5 at Stephen F. Austin (6 p.m.)
Nov. 7 at Lamar (11 a.m.)
Nov. 12 Nicholls (6 p.m.)
Nov. 14 at Nicholls (1 p.m.)
 
*- Southland Conference Match