LAKE CHARLES— The Battle of the Border lived up to its expectation Saturday afternoon with McNeese volleyball coming away with the straight set win (28-26, 25-21, 25-16) over Lamar for the Cowgirls first Southland Conference win of the season.
McNeese improves to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in the SLC while Lamar falls to 4-13 overall and 1-3 in the SLC.
"I have to give kudos to my team," said head coach
Tayler Gray. "I challenged them on Friday, and I know they were frustrated with me, but they responded today with only one reception error after 14 against Stephen F. Austin on Thursday.
"We kind of like the underdog mentality and we don't mind a slow start, I get nervous with a fast start because I want us to stay mentally locked in. In the end, runs usually happen and that's what happened in set two."
Kayla Wilson led McNeese with 12 kills and a .545 hitting percent. Wilson didn't commit an 22 attempts.
Gabbie Maldonado chipped in with 10 kill and a .267 hitting percent.
Setters
Corynne Hausler and
Megan Grose continued their steady play with 19 and 16 assists, respectively.
The defensive play of
Sophia Tocmo and
Gaby Santiago came up with huge digs during the match. Tocmo led the Cowgirls with 15 digs while Santiago ended with 12.
Lamar was led in kills by Nisaan Martinez who had a match high 19.
SET 1
• McNeese led 20-18 following a kill by Maldonado
• McNeese had set point 24-23 but Lamar stayed alive by winning the next point to tie the set at 24
• Both teams battled back and forth and with the set tied at 26 apiece, Santiago put the Cowgirls up 27-26 with a kill and the Cowgirls would win the set on a Lamar error.
SET 2
• Lamar jumped out to an 11-7 lead, but McNeese fought their way back to tie the set at 20 apiece on a Wilson kill.
• Following a kill by Lamar to even the set at 21 all, McNeese outscored the Cardinals 4-0 the rest of the way behind the serve of
Carli Banks to take the set.
SET 3
• McNeese jumped out to a 15-9 lead and never looked back as the Cowgirls used several scoring runs in the set to seal the win.
UPCOMING COWGIRL MATCHES
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.)
*- Southland Conference Match
