Lamar sports information and The News staff reports

BEAUMONT — The second of four consecutive Southland Conference matches, Lamar’s volleyball team hosted McNeese State on Saturday in the volleyball Battle of the Border. The match featured 41 ties and 19 lead changes, but luck favored the Cowgirls over the Cardinals in a 3-1 match that easily could have been a Big Red victory.

Abigale Nash continued to assert herself offensively and defensively with another double-double; the freshman had 10 kills and 13 digs while serving two aces against the Cowgirls. Alyssa Legette also accrued a double-double with 29 assists and 10 digs, and Ivette Dim and Tomar Thomas each had double-digit kills. Erin Pequeno poured in another 15 digs as the libero.

A large and loud crowd turned out to catch the match with a boisterous first set that had 16 ties and five lead changes. Lamar sat in the driver’s seat late in the first game with a 22-21 lead, but four consecutive Cowgirl points gave McNeese a 1-0 lead in the match.

McNeese continued to press its advantage at the start of the second set with a 4-1 run, but Lamar responded with tenacity, taking six straight points for a 7-4 lead. The Redbirds wouldn’t relinquish the advantage for the rest of the set, evening things up 1-1 at the break with a 25-19 victory in the second game.

The third set had another eight ties and five lead changes through the first 25 points, but a late run by McNeese gave the Cowgirls enough breathing room that Lamar couldn’t quite catch up. McNeese took the third set 25-17.

Fifteen ties and seven lead changes took place in the pivotal set, including an 8-3 run by Lamar late in the game to take a 21-20 lead. McNeese answered with back-to-back points to take a 22-21 margin, but a kill and an ace from Thomas put the game back in Big Red’s control, 23-22. The final momentum shift came in the next point; a Paige Havel kill and consecutive Lamar errors ended the set 25-23 in the Cowgirls’ favor and the match 3-1 for McNeese.

 

PREPS

PNG 3, Vidor 1 (Fri.)

In Port Neches, Kaitlyn Gil’s 23 kills and 15 digs, and Holly Jones’ 27 assists helped Port Neches-Groves dig from a 21-25 first-set setback to rout Vidor 25-16, 25-20, 25-17 on Friday.

Elizabeth Bolyard added 15 kills and Jones served four aces on 13 service points for the Rock-A-Noos (27-5, 5-1 in 21-5A). Harlee Barnwell and Natalie Nelson each served 10 points with two aces.

Bayja Newby (13 digs) and Halley Smith (11) were active on the defensive end, and Barnwell threw in 14 assists. Ariel Muller and Bolyard each made two blocks.

 

Dayton 3, Memorial 0 (Fri.)

In Port Arthur, Memorial suffered a 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 setback in District 21-5A play. No statistics were available for the Titans (18-15, 1-5).