NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (6-24, 0-16 Southland) extended each set but fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-20) to the McNeese State Cowgirls (15-16, 5-10) on Tuesday in the season finale at the Human Performance Center.
The Privateers fell behind 4-0 early, but were able to stem the tide for the rest of the set. New Orleans trimmed the deficit to one after taking four of the next five rallies, but could never pull even. The Privateers broke serve to pull the set to 24-22, but an over the net violation whistled on the next rally closed the opening set for McNeese State.
In the second set, both teams played the first 20 rallies evenly and were tied on eight different occasions. McNeese State was able to steadily draw away though and earned the last four points of the set including the last on a service ace. The Cowgirls had five aces at the halftime break.
The final set began with a quick start for McNeese State as they raced to an 8-2 lead. The Privateers spent the rest of the set trying to catch up, but started to put pressure by winning five straight points to cut the set deficit to 19-18. The Cowgirls used their first timeout of the match and responded by winning the next four points out of the stoppage which vaulted them ultimately to the win.
New Orleans was led by
Rondolyn Bryant who had 10 kills on the match.
Cara Sander added nine kills and
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe contributed with seven. Sellers-Wiebe also led the Privateers defensively with 14 digs and added a solo block.
Lauren Levy added 12 digs on defense and had 60 digs over the final five matches.
Kelsea Hundtoft had five kills and
Ashley Everett had three digs while each played in their final collegiate match.
The Cowgirls were led offensively by Rachel Cagnina who had 12 kills. Malina Sanchez added eight kills including the final kill of the match and contributed 10 digs along with two aces. Kimberlyn Patterson and Adison Giambrone each had 11 digs.
