McNeese Volleyball opens SLC play with 3-0 win over NW State

Senior Setter Kelly Graham picked up her 5th double-double of the season during Thursday's match.

From Staff Reports

The Contraband

Seniors Kelly Graham, Malina Sanchez and Amber Fryer took matters into their own hands Thursday night to lead McNeese volleyball (4-10, 1-0 SLC) to a straight set (26-24, 25-14, 25-17) Southland Conference opening win over Northwestern State (2-12, 0-1 SLC), the reigning Southland Conference Champs. McNeese will remain on the road for a 1 p.m. match at Stephen F. Austin Saturday that will be televised on ESPN3.
“This was a great win tonight,” said head coach Ashleigh Fitzgerald. “Our seniors le the way in respective statistical categories. We are happy to escape with a win against a tradition-rich program like Northwestern State.

Graham ended the match with her fifth double-double of the season with match highs in assists (29) and digs (14). Graham dished out more assists than Northwestern State totaled for the entire match. Sanchez’s 10 kills tied a match high. Of her 10 kills, Sanchez recorded the final kills to win the first and second sets. Fryer was solid on the front row and came away with a match high four blocks including four assisted blocks. Junior libero Bridget Justis also helped on the defense by picking up 11 digs.

The match opened up with both teams trading points and either team leading by more than two points early on. With the match tied at 16, McNeese scored four of five of the next six points to lead 21-17 on kills by Rebecca Korenek and Fryer. Kills by Monica Hudgins and Hailee Showers gave McNeese a 23-18 lead. Northwestern State scored the next five points to tie the set at 23 all. Both teams traded points for the next two points to tie the set at 24. Sanchez put the set away with back-to-back kills for a 26-24 Cowgirl win.

McNeese scored its first four points of the second set, all off NW State errors. The Cowgirls built on those errors and never trailed, holding a 12-6 lead on a kill by Sanchez. A 4-1 run by McNeese upped the lead to 16-7. A kill by Korenek gave McNeese a 20-10 and then kills by Hudgins, Korenek and Sanchez helped lift the Cowgirls to a 25-14 win to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 overall match lead.

Northwestern State took the early lead in the third set but a service ace by Graham gave McNeese its first lead of the set at 6-5. Like the first set, the teams traded points until McNeese took the lead for good at 13-12 on a Lady Demon error. The Cowgirls scored the next three points to extend their lead to 16-12. And just like the first set, NW State didn’t give up as they came back to cut the lead to 17-16 following three McNeese hitting errors.

Leading 19-17, McNeese scored the matches final six points with three of the six points coming off kills by Fryer for the third set 25-17 win and the overall match victory.