NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers Volleyball team will play their final two home games of the season this week as they host Southland Conference foes Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin.
The Privateers (3-24, 0-14 SLC) host an NSU team on Thursday night that has won three straight and is in the hunt for the SLC regular season title with a 12-2 conference record (16-10 overall). SFA (14-13, 6-8 SLC) comes to town on Saturday after a stop in Hammond against Southeastern.
Three seniors will play their final home matches for the Privateers this week:
Ariane Labrzycki,
Marti Richmiller, and
Nandi Brown. Labrzycki is the team's leading server and is sixth in the SLC with a 0.32 service ace per set average. She is also second on the team in assists with 156. Richmiller has been the offensive leader for the Privateers all season as she leads the way with 189 kills. She is also third on the team in digs with 171. Brown, meanwhile, has 63 kills and 10 blocks on the year.
Other notables for the Privateers are
Lauren Levy with 325 digs,
Taylor Berry who has 61 blocks, and
Celeste Ramirez who is 17 assists away from 500 for the year.
NSU is a strong defensive team with a 15.77 digs per set average (6
th in the SLC). Junior Keelie Arneson leads the Demons and the conference with a 5.25 digs per set average (509 total). Junior Mackenzie Neely is also a strong server as she leads her team with a 0.35 aces per set average (5
th in the SLC). Freshman Ashley Elrod is the offensive leader for the Demons with 264 kills this season.
For SFA, sophomore O.J. Olson leads the Ladyjacks with a 4.90 digs per set average (3
rd in the SLC) and has 529 total. The Ladyjacks also have a solid blocker in sophomore Jacque Allen, who is fourth in the conference with a 1.16 blocks per set average. Allen is just six blocks away from the century mark.
UNO and Northwestern State get set for 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Human Performance Center, and the Privateers will finish the 2013 home slate with their match against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 2 p.m., also at the HPC. The Privateers wrap up the regular season at Central Arkansas and at Oral Roberts next week.
