Privateers' Comeback Attempt Falls Short at Abilene Christian

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ABILENE, Texas – The New Orleans Privateers (12-12, 2-6) were involved in a seesaw battle, but fell short 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23) to the Abilene Christian Wildcats (5-17, 5-4) on Thursday evening at Moody Coliseum.
 
New Orleans was staring down a 24-20 deficit when they rallied for three straight points on two attack errors with a tandem block sandwiched in between. However, the Wildcats were able to hold on when Sarah Siemens notched the clinching kill.
 
After New Orleans took it to a fourth set, again the teams started on even terms early. There were six ties after the first 15 rallies and neither team could pull away. The score was tied at 16-16 when Abilene Christian earned back-to-back points, one on a service ace to lead by two.  
 
The Privateers got off to a sound start in the first set, racing to an early 6-3 lead. That was the only advantage New Orleans would have in the set though. Abilene Christian strung together five straight points to wrestle the lead away. The Wildcats never had a big run, but gained enough separation due in part to four blocks and two rotational errors whistled against the Privateers.
 
In the second set, Abilene Christian broke an 8-8 tie by winning the next four points. The Wildcats led by as many as seven at one point in the set. New Orleans got the lead down to as little as three, but could not string together a sustained run to close the gap. After the first two sets, the Privateers were held without a service ace while registering six service errors.
 
Both teams played evenly throughout the night, and that held early on in the third set. However, New Orleans was able to gain some momentum with a 6-0 run to take a 16-10 advantage. The Privateers were hitting .562 in the set at that point.
 
The Wildcats came back to within a point on multiple occasions down the stretch, but New Orleans stayed to task and got a tip over for a kill to force a fourth set. The Privateers wound up hitting .441 for the set.
 
Blessing Dunn led the way with 12 kills and also had three blocks. Keke Irby, Kaitlyn Grice, and Rondolyn Bryant each added nine kills while Grice added four blocks. Shaylene Reimer returned from a one-match absence due to injury to co-lead the team in digs with nine. Lauren Levy also added nine digs while Samantha Uline and Celeste Ramirez each added eight.
 
The Wildcats were led by Jennifer Loerch who posted 15 kills and hit .308. Lauren Walker (12) and Jacey Smith (10) also landed in double figures in the kill department. Madison Hoover notched a match-high 21 digs and Corinne Grandcolas was in on eight of the team's 11 blocks. Siemens had 50 assists to go along with the match clinching point.
 
New Orleans will travel to San Antonio to take on Incarnate Word on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m.
 
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