HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (6-23, 0-15 Southland) surrendered a .621 hitting percentage in the opening set of a 3-0 loss (25-5, 25-16, 25-17) to the Sam Houston State Bearkats (18-9, 11-3) on Saturday at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats established early command, scoring the first five points and 12 of the first 13 of the match. In the first set, Sam Houston State had a .621 attack percentage with 18 kills and no errors in 29 attempts. The Bearkats also registered four service aces in taking the first set 25-5.
In the second set, New Orleans hung in closer for the early portion of the set, trailing 9-6 after the first 15 rallies. However, Sam Houston State popped a 7-1 run to extend the lead to nine. The two teams split the last 18 rallies of the set and the Bearkats took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.
The third and final set started with Sam Houston State earning the first seven points before the Privateers used a kill from
Taylor Berry to get on the board. New Orleans stormed back to tie the set at 9-9, but the Bearkats opened up again using three attack errors on the Privateers' side to push to a six-point advantage at 17-11. Sam Houston State was able to close the match from there and hit for a .336 attack percentage on the day while also serving up nine aces.
New Orleans' offense was led by
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe and
Rondolyn Bryant who each had four kills.
Cara Sander added three kills and
Taylor Berry added three as well, all in the third set.
Lauren Levy led the way defensively with 16 digs.
Sara Hammoutene added eight digs and was in on two blocks.
Deveney Wells-Gibson led the Bearkats' offense with 11 kills. Six of those came in the opening set. Krista Koopman also got to double figures in kills with 10 and Jordyn Vaughn followed with eight kills. Claire Kilpatrick and Breanna Homer had 17 and 15 digs respectively.
The Privateers will end the regular season back home at the Human Performance Center with Senior Night against McNeese State on Tuesday, Nov. 11. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
