NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers Volleyball team gets back into action this week against a pair of in-state Southland Conference rivals.
The Privateers (2-14, 0-4 SLC) head to Thibodaux Thursday night to take on Nicholls State (3-11, 0-4 SLC), and New Orleans follows that up with a trip to Lake Charles on Saturday afternoon to meet McNeese State (10-8, 3-2 SLC).
Thursday night's match for UNO and Nicholls will be an opportunity for each team to put behind four-game skids and to start the month of October on a positive note.
Sophomore
Lauren Levy continues to be a leader defensively for the Privateers as she set a team-high with 11 digs against Oral Roberts last week, which is the fifth highest in 3-set matches all season. That was the third time Levy set a team-high mark in digs per 3-set matches this season. She remains the team leader with 176 digs on the season and raised her average of digs per set to 3.38.
Sophomore
Taylor Berry set a season-high with five blocks against ORU, all of which were solo. Berry has a team high 24 this season, and freshman
Cara Sander leads the team in block assists with 16.
Nicholls, like UNO, has had similar struggles heading into the halfway point of the season and hopes to turn it around. The Colonels' junior Kaylynn Egea leads her team in digs with 179 and averages 3.65 digs per set this season. Freshman Kayla Burling is also in triple digits with 114 digs and is also the team leader in kills per set with 3.27 (157 total).
The Privateers are looking to avenge an earlier loss to McNeese this season at the Louisiana Tech Invitational. The Cowgirls have been steady competitors in the SLC and have won three straight matches. The SLC named Cowgirls sophomore Malina Sanchez last week's Offensive Player of the Week with 38 kills. Sanchez leads her team with 3.89 kills per set. McNeese as a team is second in the conference in blocks per set with 2.02. Sophomore Amber Fryer is the leader in blocks with 55.
The Privateers square off at Nicholls beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday night, while the match at McNeese on Saturday gets set for 2 p.m. UNO returns to the Human Performance Center for a four-game home stand beginning with Alcorn State on October 8 at 7 p.m.
