GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The New Orleans volleyball program dropped a pair of matches on its opening day of competition at the 2013 Campus USA Credit Union Invitational on Friday.
UNO (0-2) opened its season by falling 3-0 (25-7, 25-9, 25-12) to No. 9 ranked Florida in the program's first match against a top 10 program since 2007. The Privateers followed it up later in the day with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-14, 25-15) loss to Duke in its second match of the day.
In the opener, UNO senior
Nandi Brown and freshman
Cara Sander had three kills apiece to lead the visiting squad. Brown's production in the match was just one shy of her career-high and gave the Marietta, Ga. native back-to-back matches with at least three kills for the first time in her career.
Sophomore
Celeste Ramirez dished around a team-high six assists in her Privateer debut with fellow setter
Ariane Labrzycki adding five more. Libero
Lauren Levy totaled nine digs.
Florida (1-0) was on the mark defensively in the match, holding UNO to a -.018 hitting percentage over the three sets played.
On the offensive end, the Gators showed their depth as seven players had at least four kills as the team hit a collective .500 for the match. Simone Antwi was tops on the Florida roster with eight kills and setter Mackenzie Dagostino produced 21 assists.
In the day's second match, Duke improved to 2-0 on the season by getting off to a strong start. The Blue Devils held UNO without a kill in the first set and to just 12 kills for the match.
Taylor Berry was the top hitter in the Privateer lineup with four kills with
Ashley Everett adding three additional kills for head coach Kim Young-Buford's squad. Labrzycki was responsible for six assists in the match while the duo of
Kelsea Hundtoft and Levy led UNO with 10 and nine digs, respectively.
The Blue Devils received nine kills from Breanna Atkinson and six more from Jordan Tucker in the match. Maggie Deichmeister distributed 15 assists and Duke totaled 13 service aces for the match.
The weekend stay in Florida ends on Saturday for the Privateers as the team will face LIU-Brooklyn out of the Northeast Conference at 12:30 p.m. Central time. Live stats will be available through Florida's athletic web site.
