For Immediate Release
Oct. 1, 2015
 
Moore joins exclusive club in Cardinal win
 
BEAUMONT – It was a momentous match for senior Cortney Moore, and she and junior Autumn Taylor led the Lamar University volleyball team to seal the night with a 3-1 win (25-14, 25-29, 23-25, 25-23) over Southland Conference rival McNeese State Thursday night at McDonald Gym.
 
Moore accounted for 15 kills for the Cardinals (11-5, 1-1 Southland Conference), which was one more than she needed to become the 19^th member of the exclusive 1,000-kill club at Lamar. The Houston native finished the night with a .414 hitting percentage and only three error in 24 attacks.
 
"That's a huge mark for any kid. That number is big and she has gotten there in pretty impressive fashion too," said head coach Alan Edwards. "She's a free-swinging kid and a high-flyer, and we're very proud of her. I'm happy our two middles are on our team."
 
Taylor finished match with 16 kills and .308 hitting percentage, her kills mark was a season-high for her. The Pearland native had four errors and 39 attacks.
 
"Autumn Taylor was really good tonight, really good. The reality of it is that people will come in keying our middles," said Edwards. "For us to be good, we're going to have to have some pin players step up. To see Nicole and Autumn step up and put balls away was big.
 
"(Taylor) was good from the endline as well," he said. "The numbers on the box don't tell the story, she put them out of system a lot."
 
Parish had five kills on 13 attempts (.308 hitting percentage), and Murielle Hlavac, in her first career start, had seven kills on 22 attacks. 
 
Lamar fell back 5-3 early in the first set, but quickly it tied back at 5-5 with a block from Parish and McNeese (4-12, 1-2 SLC) service error. It went back-and-forth until the Cardinals turned a 7-7 tie into a 10-7 lead on another MSU service error, a service ace from Haley Morton and kill from Ivette Dim. The Cardinals held the lead all the way to the third set.
 
In the third set, LU jumped out quickly for a 7-3 lead, and was either tied or leading up until the Cowgirls took a 19-18 advantage on a kill by Malina Snachez. LU tied it at 19-19 with a kill from Taylor, but McNeese answered with two straight-points on errors from the Cardinals.
 
Lamar would eventually work back to a 23-22 lead when a point from Taylor forced MSU to call a timeout, and the Cowgirls responded by taking the next three to win it on kills from Rebecca Korenek and Hailee Showers along with a Lamar attack error.
 
The intensity of the third carried to the fourth, which featured 11 ties and four lead changes. The last lead change broke a 21-21 tie on a kill, again from Taylor.  A Cowgirl attack error made it 23-21, Lamar, but Sanchez scored another to cut it to 23-22.  Amy Hollowell and Moore teamed up for a block to push it to 24-22, but Edwards was forced to call a time out at 24-23 when Korenek put down another kill.
 
Match point was given to the Cardinals again when Korenek hit one from the left side that rolled into the net and would not go over.
 
Morton matched her season-high of 30 assists in the match, and Ashley Ellis accounted for 17. Two Cardinals, Lauren Stahlman (17) and Morton (12), were had double-digit digs totals. The double-double for Morton was her fifth of the season.
 
As a team, the Cardinals hit for a .255 average on 54 kills and 18 errors.
 
Sanchez led all players with 18 kills, and Korenek followed with 13 for McNeese.  As a team, the Cowgirls put up a .155 hitting percentage and nine blocks.
 
Lamar returns to action on Saturday at 1 o'clock when it hosts Nicholls at McDonald Gym in more Southland Conference action.