New Orleans Privateers (0-3) at Southern Miss (2-1)
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2013 • 7 p.m. CST • Live Stats • Live Video
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The season-opening road swing for the New Orleans Privateer volleyball program takes the team to Southern Miss on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. first serve.
Live stats and video will be available through SouthernMiss.com.
Playing its toughest competition of the season, UNO (0-3) opened the 2013 campaign with losses to No. 9 Florida, defending Northeast Conference champion LIU-Brooklyn and Atlantic Coast Conference foe Duke this past weekend.
The Privateers grew as a team while facing the challenges presented by its opposition.
UNO sophomore libero
Lauren Levy was commended by Florida head coach and two-time 'National Coach of the Year' Mary Wise in a post-match interview. After leading the Privateers with a team-best 2.78 digs per set, Levy was selected to the All-Tournament team.
Offensively, freshman
Cara Sander is tops on the roster with seven kills to her credit to date. Showing the balanced form that was prevalent for head coach Kim Young Buford's offense a year ago, Sander was one of the five different UNO players to have at least three kills in a match this past weekend.
The Privateers will need to continue to grow as a team against a USM (2-1) program which opened the season with a second place finish in its home-hosted Southern Miss Invitational.
The Golden Eagles defeated Jackson State and Troy in straight sets before being upended by Southland Conference opponent Stephen F. Austin 3-0 in the championship match.
Picked to finish 11th in Conference USA at the onset of the season, USM is led by Quinci Hayward's four kills per set. Three other players average at least two kills a frame for the Golden Eagles, who are hitting .229 as a squad.
Setter Kristen Fleming is distributing 10.89 assists per set with Mary Pursell leading all players on the roster with 5.89 digs a frame. Fleming is second with 3.22.
Tuesday's meeting is the 32
nd all-time between UNO and USM. The Privateers hold a 24-7 advantage in the series which began in 1976 and has not been played since 2006.
UNO will follow their match on Tuesday by competing in the Louisiana Tech Invitational this coming weekend. Matches against Western Michigan and McNeese are slated for Friday with a final match against the host LTU on tap for Saturday.
