CONWAY, Ark. - The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (4-8, 0-1 Southland) took back-to-back losses Friday to open the Sugar Bear Invitational. New Orleans lost 3-1 to conference foe Central Arkansas and 3-0 to UNLV.
Central Arkansas 3 New Orleans 1
The teams split the first two sets after New Orleans had a strong response to a fast start by Central Arkansas.
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe opened the proceedings with a service ace on the first rally of the match. The Privateers kept within shouting distance over the next 15 rallies. Trailing 10-6, New Orleans was victimized by a 6-0 Sugar Bears run that helped the hosts seize control of the opening set. Central Arkansas served up five service aces during the first set.
The Privateers fought back by taking the second set 25-23. New Orleans showed balance in the attack to set the tone as four different Privateers registered a kill to account for New Orleans' first four points. It was a set that didn't see a lot of sustained runs.
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe finished off the set win with her fifth kill of the match.
In the third set, New Orleans again battled valiantly against the defending Southland Champions. The Privateers trailed only 17-15 at the point Central Arkansas called their first timeout of the match. The Sugar Bears responded with a 7-2 run out of the stoppage, and clinched the third set on a Privateers service error.
New Orleans fell into an early hole, trailing 7-2 to open up the fourth and final set. The two teams went back and forth before a three-point swing the Privateers' way trimmed the deficit to 15-10. Central Arkansas went on a subsequent 8-2 spurt that helped lock up the set and the match in the Sugar Bears' favor.
Cara Sander led the way with 10 kills for New Orleans. Sellers-Wiebe added seven kills and Brooklyn Frank contributed six kills.
Lauren Levy got the start at libero and led the way in digs with 10.
Taylor Berry was in on two blocks at the net and added five kills.
Central Arkansas had three players notch double digits in kills. Evie Singleton led the way with 16 followed by Heather Schnars and Alicia Dittrich who added 13 and 11 kills respectively. The Sugar Bears racked up 12 service aces. Central Arkansas registered a hitting percentage of .333 on the afternoon.
UNLV 3 New Orleans 0
In the second match of the day, the Privateers fell 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-13) to UNLV. The Privateers fell behind early in the first set, but kept the match within nine before each team traded points the rest of the way with UNLV taking the first set.
After the first set, the Privateers found themselves in a 10-1 hole, but rallied back to come within five – 12-7 – as the Privateers made due on UNLV errors in the run. However, UNLV regained its composure and rallied for the 25-12 win. In the second set, Sellers-Wiebe recorded two kills, while Berry had two block assists.
UNLV kept its tirade going in the third set, winning 25-13. New Orleans had the match within six – 13-7 – before the Runnin' Rebels steadily pulled away for the victory.
For the match, Sellers-Wiebe had seven kills while Sander followed closely with six. Hammoutene had 19 assists and Ramirez had 10 digs.
New Orleans closes out the Sugar Bear Invitational tomorrow with a match versus Grambling. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
