BEAUMONT, Texas — Entering Saturday's match, Lamar University was tied with rival McNeese for sixth place in the Southland Conference standings.
The Cowgirls won the opening two sets before the Cardinals rallied in the third, but McNeese held on for a four-set victory, 25-22, 25-19, 17-25, 28-26, at McDonald Gym in its home finale.
Despite the loss, Lamar celebrated a career milestone as
Gabby Baker surpassed the 1,000-dig mark. Needing seven digs entering the match, Baker finished with 19 to raise her career total to 1,012.
The loss dropped the Cardinals back into a tie for seventh place with Northwestern State in the conference standings.
There were six ties in the opening set.
Lamar scored the first three points behind two kills from
Maja Malinowska and one from
Kinley Elms to build a 4-1 advantage.
McNeese answered with a 4-0 run to take a one-point lead, but the Cardinals responded with three straight points, including kills from Malinowska and
Saida Maksoud, to regain a two-point advantage.
After several lead changes, Lamar used a 5-0 run to build a 17-14 lead. Maksoud and Malinowska recorded two kills apiece during the stretch.
McNeese responded with a 5-1 run to move in front, 19-18, and later scored three consecutive points to extend its advantage.
The Cowgirls closed the set by outscoring Lamar 3-1 to secure the opener.
The second set featured three early ties before McNeese used a 6-1 run to take a 13-7 lead.
The Cowgirls never trailed the rest of the set.
Nisaan Martinez cut the deficit to three with a kill, but McNeese answered with a 3-1 run to push its lead back to five.
The Cowgirls closed the set with the final three points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Lamar responded in the third set after McNeese scored the opening four points.
The Cardinals answered with a 5-0 run to take a one-point lead behind a Baker ace and kills from Malinowska and Elms.
After three ties, Lamar used a 5-0 run to build a 13-8 advantage while taking advantage of five McNeese attack errors.
The Cowgirls trimmed the deficit to one with a 3-0 run, but the Cardinals took control with seven straight points to extend the lead to 23-15. Malinowska had four kills during the run, Martinez added two, and
Alexa Gonzalez contributed an ace.
Lamar scored the final two points of the set to force a fourth.
The final set featured 10 ties.
Lamar used an early 4-1 run to claim a 9-5 lead behind kills from Martinez and
Rihanna Bryant and an ace from
Addison Stanley.
The Cardinals stretched the advantage to five on kills from Malinowska and Maksoud, along with another Gonzalez ace.
McNeese pulled within one with a 4-0 run, but Lamar later pushed its lead back to four after scoring three consecutive points. Martinez added a kill during the stretch, while
Katelyn Hughes recorded an ace.
The set remained tight late before the ball bounced McNeese's way. Megan Grose delivered two kills off a pair of set dumps to help the Cowgirls secure the match victory.
MATCH NOTES
- Malinowska led the Cardinals with 19 kills and added nine digs, two block assists, one service ace and one assist.
- Martinez recorded 17 kills and three block assists, while Maksoud added 10 kills, eight total blocks and one dig.
- Hill contributed seven kills, four digs and two block assists.
- Gonzalez notched her 23rd career double-double and third of the season, finishing with 25 assists, 12 digs and three service aces.
- Hughes added 24 assists, six digs and one ace.
- Baker recorded 19 digs, six assists and one service ace.
- The milestone performance pushed her career total to 1,012 digs, making her the first Cardinal to reach 1,000 career digs since Megan Schwartz totaled 1,283 from 2010-14.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals close out the regular season with a pair of road matches, beginning Thursday, Nov. 12, against LSU New Orleans. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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