BEAUMONT, Texas - Hitting the road after a big win, Lamar University (7-11, 2-6 SLC) is back at it quickly with a match Tuesday night. The Cardinals won't have far to go when they play at McNeese State University (8-12, 1-7 SLC) in the first Battle of the Border meeting of any sport this year.

Lamar vs. McNeese - Tuesday, October 22 at 6:30 p.m. - H & HP Complex (Lake Charles, La.) - Battle of the Border

McNeese holds recent bragging rights in the volleyball version of the Battle of the Border with a four-match winning streak, but the all-time series favors Lamar with Big Red holding a 44-29 record against the Cowgirls. That record includes a 26-game winning streak by the Cards over McNeese from the first meeting on Oct. 19, 1982 until a three-set loss at McNeese on Oct. 13, 1992.

The Cowgirls went 7-5 in non-conference play with wins against Elon, Manhattan, Florida A&M, Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M, Grambling, and UL-Monroe. They've struggled since the calendar turned to Southland Conference play with just a three-set win against Abilene Christian at home to break up seven SLC losses. The Cowgirls shouldn't be underestimated though as only one of those losses has come against a team not currently projected to make the SLC tournament.

Ashleigh Fitzgerald is in her sixth season as the head coach of the Cowgirls and is 77-104 in that time with a 39-49 record in SLC play. She's 5-1 against Lamar.

Against SLC opponents McNeese has had a tough go of it statistically, ranking 12th in hitting percentage, 11th in assists per set, 13th in kills per set, ninth in blocks per set, and 11th in digs per set. Serving has been a place where the Cowgirls have shone though with a fourth-place ranking.

Alexis Lambert is the team's kills leader with 172 this season, averaging 2.87 a set. Keegan Nelms is just two kills behind and is averaging about 2.43 a set. Caitlin Sharrock (354 assists, 5.71 a set) and Kendall Kilchrist (278 assists, 5.05 as set) split time at setter, and Angela McGownd has 319 digs this year, averaging about 4.83 a set. Sharrock (0.44 aces a set) and Alison Lippert (0.44 aces a set) are both dangerous in the serving game.

The Last Time Out - Lamar vs. Nicholls on Oct. 19

Carried by an incredible six point comeback in the first set, Lamar University grabbed momentum by the horns and ran away with a three-set victory over Nicholls State University on Saturday.

Malaysia Murdock led the way with 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage, two blocks, and two digs, contributing 11 points. Abigale Nash also had 11 points with nine digs, one assist, two blocks, and 10 digs. Dannisha House, Bre'Ala Box, and Kayla Neumann each had six kills, and Annika Slovak had 33 assists and three kills to accompany four digs. Neumann and Nash each had double-digit digs, and Erin Pequeno had another seven digs.

"I thought we did a really good job of staying at high energy with very aggressive play," said head coach Michelle Kuester. "That's been a focus at practice lately; going down swinging. I thought they did a good job maintaining that even when the pressure was on."

Up Next

The Cards travel to Houston Baptist (tied sixth, 4-4 SLC) on Saturday before returning home to host UIW (13th, 0-8 SLC) on Halloween. A three-game home stand will open November with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (fourth, 5-3 SLC), New Orleans (fifth, 4-3 SLC), and Southeastern Louisiana (tied sixth, 4-4 SLC) coming to town. Road matches at Stephen F. Austin (first, 8-0 SLC) and Abilene Christian ( will close the regular season.

"We're a young team and still learning, but we're making good strides," said Kuester. "I think people are going to be caught off guard by us in the second half of conference play and our moral is only on the way up. That's a good thing for the second half of the conference season."