NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers (5-10, 0-3 Southland) struggled to find a groove Thursday night at the Human Performance Center, taking a 3-0 loss (25-13, 25-18, 25-16) to the Houston Baptist Huskies (6-9, 1-0).
The Privateers had a solid start to the first set, opening up an early 6-4 lead after the first ten rallies. However, Houston Baptist took the next seven rallies and steadily drew away from there to a 25-13 set win. The Huskies had a .500 hitting percentage after the first set.
Early in the second set, the Privateers had to climb out of an early 11-3 hole. The Privateers were able to get a balanced attack from that point to trim the deficit to as close as three. However, New Orleans could not draw any closer.
"I feel like we weren't ready to compete tonight," said Head Coach
Millicent Van Norden. "I felt like we almost had too relaxed of a demeanor and that we came out a little flat."
The Privateers started the third set by earning the first three points, but that advantage was short lived. Houston Baptist took their first lead of the set at 5-4 and never trailed afterward. The Privateers kept it close, and were only trailing 14-12 when a dump play by
Sara Hammoutene for an apparent kill was instead ruled dead on a violation whistled on the Privateers.
Mikayla Sellers-Wiebe led the Privateers attack with 10 kills, and also co-led the team in digs with seven.
Cara Sander added seven kills and Ro Bryant was in on two of the Privateers' three blocks on the evening. New Orleans was outpaced in kills by a 47-26 margin on the night.
Houston Baptist was led by three players who notched double figures in kills. Jessica Wooten had 13, Bailey Keith chipped in 11, and Megan McStravick followed closely behind with 10 kills. The Huskies hit .430 overall on the match compared to just an .085 hitting percentage for the Privateers.
New Orleans will next face the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Saturday. First serve is at 12 p.m.
