Final Stats THIBODAUX, La. – After dropping the first two sets by identical scores, the Nicholls State University women's volleyball team stormed back to take the third set on Senior Night and almost push it to a fourth, but the McNeese State Cowgirls were able to withstand the Nicholls attack and defeated the Colonels in four sets (20-25, 20-25, 26-24, 21-25) Saturday night in the season finale in Stopher Gym.

Nicholls (5-23, 2-16 SLC) and McNeese State (17-15, 9-9) fought through 18 ties and nine lead changes in a thrilling third set, as it was over half of the night's total as there were 26 ties and 13 lead changes throughout the four sets.

Kayla Mashburn set a new career high in kills, leading all players on the night with 23 and a .23 attack percentage with six digs and two blocks, followed by Kayla Burling who had 14 kills, a .231 percentage, five digs and ace and two assists. Mikayla Miller had a hot hand, hitting .400 with eight kills and four blocks.

Alyse Barclay and Ainsley Marroccoli finished with 20 assists each to lead the club, while Kalynn Egea finished with a team-high 12 digs.

McNeese State's Malina Sanchez led the Cowgirls with 20 kills and earned a double-double with her 11 digs on the evening. Sophie Tenbusch had 15 and hit .265 with seven blocks. As a team, McNeese State hit .307 to Nicholls .223, finishing with 60 kills and 54 digs led by Kara Rockey's game-high 19.

The Cowgirls began the match strong, jutting out to a 13-6 lead to force a Nicholls timeout. Like much of the match, the Colonels slowly began to claw back into the set after trailing by a hefty margin, including taking 10 of the next six points to pull within four at 20-16. After a McNeese timeout, Nicholls got the next two points to increase its run to six-straight points, even getting two back after the Cowgirls got two to make it 22-20. Unfortunately, that's where the offense stopped for the Colonels allowing McNeese to take the set 25-20.

The second set saw six ties, but just two lead changes, as the last Colonel lead came when the team was up 12-11 early. A four-point swing by the Cowgirls made it 15-12 McNeese State, but Nicholls again rallied to pull within one outscoring the Cowgirls 5-3 to make it 18-17, but not before the Cowgirls got two more points to make it 20-17 to force a Nicholls timeout. After the break, Nicholls once again got within one of the visitors at 21-20, but again the offense began to wilt and McNeese State took the second 25-20.

Neither team gave an inch for what seemed like the entire third set, as each side would nearly use its full allotment of timeouts to try and either start a rally or stop one. The action picked up as Nicholls called a timeout trailing 21-19. The break helped as Nicholls tied the match at 21, which began a short ping pong battle for position as they would split the next four points to knot the set at 24. That was when the Colonels took over and got a ball-handling error and Mashburn kill, her eighth of that set alone, to close it out and win 26-24.

After McNeese State held an 18-11 lead in the third, the Colonels got a service error and an ace from Egea to kick start a run that would pull the Colonels within two points at 18-16 after a Cowgirl timeout. However, McNeese snapped the string and began to slowly pull away, crossing the 20-point threshold and keeping the Colonels at bay with just three more points given up to the home side to close out the match 25-21.

Before the match, Nicholls honored its 2013 senior class of Brooke Hopper and Carley McInnis, who suited up for the final time as Colonels.