NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (6-14, 0-6 Southland)dives back into conference play when they battle the Southeastern Lady Lions (6-11, 3-2) on Saturday at the University Center in Hammond. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Privateers are coming off a five-set loss at Southern on Thursday. After taking the first two sets, New Orleans was not able to hold off a Jaguars rally. New Orleans has lost both five-set matches involved in this season. In the last two matches, four of the nine sets the Privateers played have also gone into extra rallies including the fifth set on Thursday.
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe recorded a season-high 16 kills against Southern and also added 16 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Sellers-Wiebe also had an attack percentage of .395, her highest attack percentage in a match this season and had just one attack error in 38 attempts. Sellers-Wiebe also added five aces on Thursday, and is tied for the team lead on the season with 19 aces.
Celeste Ramirez recorded 21 digs against Southern and now has 45 digs over the last two matches. On the season, Ramirez has 3.36 digs per set and has recorded double figures in digs in 12 matches this season.
New Orleans lost in three sets to Southeastern in the first meeting between the two teams on Sept. 23 at the Human Performance Center. After taking the Lady Lions to the wire and dropping the first set 25-23, the Privateers lost the second set 25-13 and dropped the third set in extra rallies at 27-25. New Orleans is 37-19 all-time against Southeastern, but has lost four straight meetings entering play.
Southeastern is coming in on a high after defeating McNeese State in four sets on Tuesday to move to 3-2 in Southland play. The Lady Lions have won four of their last six matches including a five-set victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a three-set win in a non-conference match against Jackson State.
The Lady Lions' attack is paced by Parrie Hartley who has 147 kills. Hartley helped lead Southeastern to a win in the first meeting against the Privateers with 12 kills and a .478 attack percentage. Hartley also had 12 kills in Southeastern's victory over McNeese State. Defensively, Morgan Todd is fifth in the conference in digs per set (4.98).
After Saturday, New Orleans concludes a four-match road trip with a match at Northwestern State on Thursday, Oct. 16 and a second meeting against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday, Oct. 18.
