Oct. 19, 2011

Box Score

BEAUMONT - Sierra Whittaker hammered down a career-high 23 kills Wednesday night in front of a packed McDonald Gym crowd of 693, but it was not enough as McNeese State picked up a 3-2 (26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12) Southland Conference volleyball victory.

The loss drops Lamar to 7-17 on the year, and more importantly, 5-4 in conference play. McNeese snapped a six-match losing streak with the win, improving to 7-16 overall and 2-7 against the league.

After splitting the first four sets in hotly contested action, the fifth would go to the Cowgirls by a 15-12 score. Lamar was never able to take the lead in the set as McNeese attacked at a .308 percentage on its 10 kills. Whittaker picked up her final kill of the match to stave off one match point and give LU life at 14-12, but the Cowgirls' Taylor Bustamento would get a kill one serve later to close the match 15-12.

Lamar would finish the match with 10 more kills than McNeese, and hit at a higher percentage. However, McNeese was able to pick up enough offense in the three sets it won to offset Lamar's performance in the other two sets.

"We've had a real problem holding other team's offenses down," said LU head coach Justin Gibert who sits at 98 career coaching victories. "We made good plays late, but not enough early. We've got to start playing early in the match so we don't get in these situations."

The first four sets were all close with McNeese winning the first set 26-24 and the third set 25-21. Lamar would take set two by a 25-21 score and the fourth set by a 25-22 count.

Three different Lady Cardinals finished with six blocks, while junior libero Angel Colyar led all players with 24 digs. Megan McStravick, Christina Hobbs and Wendy Krell all picked up six blocks as Lamar enjoyed a 13-6 advantage at the net.

In addition to the career night by Whittaker, Cynthia McCollum established a new career-high with 17 kills. McCollum only committed four attack errors as she hit a strong .302 for the match. She added eight digs and a pair of blocks for Lamar, as well.

Junior setter Alex Morford played a strong match, handing out a career-high 64 assists on Lamar's 76 kills. Morford, whose previous high for assists was 56, added 10 digs, six kills and three block assists.

McStravick and Krell finished with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, for the Lady Cardinals.

Nicole Bowden had a big match for the Cowgirls, pounding down 22 kills on a .340 attack percentage. The senior middle blocker added four blocks in the match. Maegan Carlton added 14 kills, while Bustamento finished with 10 kills and 16 digs.

Lamar will travel to Southland Conference leader UTSA for a Saturday match at 2 p.m. The Lady Cardinals play their next three matches away from home.

LAMAR