Volleyball Team Returns To Memorial Gym After Two Years To Defeat Ragin Cajuns

Sept. 11, 2007

LAKE CHARLES-- McNeese State's women's volleyball team returned to Memorial Gym here Tuesday night after a two year absence due to damages by Hurricane Rita to defeat UL-Lafayette 3-1 in a non-conference match. A Memorial Gym record setting crowd of 551 welcomed the Cowgirls back to their home facility after having to practice and play its matches at the Sulphur Parks and Recreation (SPAR) Complex for the past two season.

The Cowgirls didn't disappoint the crowd as they easily won the opening game of the match by a 30-18 score behind a .429 team hitting percent. After a close 28-30 game two loss, McNeese bounced back with another 30-17 easy victory in the third game after intermission.

The final game of the match consisted of two ties and two leads changes as the Cowgirls prevailed to take the fourth game 30-28 and the match to improve to 4-6 on the season.

McNeese held a 10-6 lead in the fourth game behind a Chanel Tyler kill then a service ace by Sarah Cartie and a hitting error by Louisiana-Lafayette extended the Cowgirl lead to 12-6 lead. Ayshin Vasser gave McNees a 26-20 lead on a kill but UL-Lafayette wouldn't go down easy. The Ragin' Cajuns went on a 8-3 scoring run to cut the Cowgirl lead to 29-28. Tyler closed out the match with a kill off one of setter Sarah Cartie's game high 42 assists.

Tyler led all players with a match high 19 kills. Jennifer Cook was credited with 15 kills and Lindsey Petzold put away 12 kills to go along with her match high six block assists. Cartie was also credited with 11 kills and missed a triple-double by one dig as she had nine on the night.

Senior Libero Jessica Strama Ends The Match Four Digs Shy of Becoming McNeese State's Career Leader

Libero Jessica Strama ended the match four digs shy of becoming McNeese State's all-time career digs leader as she dished out 27 on the night. Strama now has 1,698 career digs. The career record of 1,701 is held by former standout Anissa Parker.

McNeese (4-6) will hit the road again this weekend to take part in their fourth and final regular season tournament when the Cowgirls travel to Mobile, Alabama to take part in the South Alabama Tournament. The Cowgirls will face Kennesaw State at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon and Lipscomb at 1:30 p.m. and South Alabama at 4 p.m. on Saturday.