LAKE CHARLES—McNeese volleyball (9-13, 5-6, SLC) will finish its weekend by hosting LSU New Orleans Saturday, Oct. 31 in a 10 a.m. match at Townsley Law Arena on the Cowgirls Senior Day.
 
McNeese will honor its four seniors (Carli Banks, Sophie Twigg, Megan Grose, and Kayla Wilson) following Saturday's match. 
 
With football's homecoming game set for 2 p.m. Saturday, fans attending the volleyball match are asked to park in the F.K. White middle school parking lot off East McNeese Street (See Above Map).  
 
LSU New Orleans (3-21, 1-10 SLC) is in last place in the SLC standings and are coming off its first SLC win of the season following its straight set road win at Nicholls Thursday night.
 
MATCH INFO
• Opponent: LSU New Orleans
• Date: Saturday, Oct. 31
• First Serve: 10 a.m.
• Location: Lake Charles
• Venue: Townsley Law Arena
 
PARKING ADVISORY- Fans are asked to park at F.K. White Middle School for Saturday's matches this weekend (See Above Map). 
 
SERIES RECORD
• McNeese holds a 29-3 all-time record against LSU New Orleans dating back to 2002
• McNeese has won the last 13 matches against the Privateers including its 3-1 win in New Orleans on Oct. 10
• The Cowgirls are 16-0 at home against LSU New Orleans since 2002
 
McNEESE NOTES
• McNeese will end its week with a 10 a.m. Southland Conference match against LSU New Orleans Saturday which will also be senior day for Carli Banks, Sophie Twigg, Megan Grose, and Kayla Wilson.  The four players will be honored following Saturday's match.
• This will be the second match against LSU New Orleans this season.  The Cowgirls defeated LSU New Orleans in four sets in New Orleans earlier this month.
• McNeese is coming off a five-set win over Southeastern on Thursday
• McNeese enters the match tied for sixth place in the SLC standings along with Northwestern State and Lamar.
• Started the SLC schedule 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 ranks second the SLC and 18th in the nation in digs per set (16.23).  The Cowgirls also rank third in the SLC with 11.58 assists per set.
• Freshman libero Sophia Tocmo ranks 12th in the nation with 4.91 digs per set and 26th in total digs with 388 digs heading into Saturday's match.
• Against ETAM on Oct. 15, Tocmo became the first McNeese freshman libero to reach 300 digs in the rally era when she ended the match with 31 digs.
• Tocmo has recorded double figure digs in the last 21 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 22 matches including a season high 24 twice this season.  Grose leads the team with 390 assists and 20 aces.
• Grose recorded her fourth double double at UIW with 19 assists and 13 digs.
• 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 17 matches including 16 of the last 17 matches. She is second on the team with 361 assists.
• Gabbie Maldonado has recorded double figure kills in the last 10 matches and leads the team with 232 for an average of 2.94 per set.
• Ava Henry leads the team with 55 blocks and is third on the team with 207 kills.
• Kayla Wilson has recorded double figure kills in 11 of the last 16 matches.  Wilson recorded a career high five blocks at LSU New Orleans on Oct. 10.
• 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
LSU New Orleans
• Enters the match is last place in the SLC standings with a 3-21 overall record and 1-10 conference record
• Coming off its first SLC win of the season following its straight set win at Nicholls on Thursday
 
UPCOMING COWGIRL MATCHES
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