Privateers Begin Halloween Weekend With McNeese State

MCNEESE STATE AT NEW ORLEANS
FRIDAY, OCT. 30 | 2 P.M.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE CENTER | NEW ORLEANS, LA.

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FIRST SERVE
The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (13-13, 2-7) will play two matches in two days, starting with a conference tilt against the McNeese State Cowgirls (10-15, 5-5) on Friday at the Human Performance Center. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
The Privateers played out a 3-0 win on Tuesday night against Mississippi Valley State. In the match, New Orleans hit .333 and landed one shy of a season high in aces, serving up 12 for the match. Shaylene Reimer posted five of those 12 aces. The hitting percentage was the second highest for the Privateers in a match this season, only behind the .355 they hit against Grambling.
 
New Orleans is seeking to break a 10-match losing streak against McNeese State that dates back to their last win against the Cowgirls in Sept. 2001. The Privateers are 18-21 all-time against McNeese State with an 8-6 mark in New Orleans. This is the first of two meetings between the teams. The second will take place in Lake Charles on Nov. 10.
 
This match was originally scheduled for Thursday, but was moved in conjunction with McNeese's weekly schedule being pushed back. The Cowgirls were supposed to play at Incarnate Word on Tuesday, but the match was postponed until Wednesday afternoon because the UIW campus was briefly locked down.
 
QUICK HITS
-Blessing Dunn is at six straight matches with 10 or more kills after registering 11 on Tuesday.
-The Privateers moved to 8-3 at home with the win against Mississippi Valley State.
-Keke Irby has 23 kills in 40 attempts over her last three matches and an attack percentage of .450 in that span.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
McNeese State enters after a tough loss on Wednesday in San Antonio. The Cowgirls lost in five sets and dropped the deciding set 15-9. Malina Sanchez recorded 21 kills in the losing effort, but McNeese State conceded 11 blocks and eight service aces while recording just five blocks and two aces on the afternoon.
 
Sanchez leads the team in kills and has three matches of 20-plus kills this season. Sanchez's 3.01 kills per set places her ninth in the Southland. Dating back to Sept. 12, Sanchez has recorded 10 or more kills in each match (18 consecutive entering Friday).
 
Ashleigh Fitzgerald is in her second season at McNeese State and is in her sixth overall season. Fitzgerald has a career record of 115-106 entering the weekend and spent her first four seasons as a head coach at Drury University in Missouri. Friday will mark the one-year anniversary of Fitzgerald's 100^th win which came on Oct. 30, 2014 against the Privateers in Lake Charles.
 
McNeese State is 4-13 away from home this season with three of those wins coming against conference competition. After the weekend finishes, the Cowgirls have four matches remaining and all of them will be back in Lake Charles at Memorial Gym.
 
To keep up with the latest New Orleans volleyball news, follow the team on Twitter @UNOPrivateers and @Privateers_VB or by liking New Orleans Privateers on Facebook.