Privateers Look For Perfect Week in Halloween Tilt vs. Nicholls

NICHOLLS AT NEW ORLEANS
SATURDAY, OCT. 31 | 2 P.M.
HUMAN PERFORMANCE CENTER | NEW ORLEANS, LA.
 
FIRST SERVE
The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (14-13, 3-7 Southland) looks to complete a perfect week in the win column on Halloween when they take on the Nicholls Colonels (6-17, 1-10) at the Human Performance Center. First serve is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
New Orleans notched their second win of the week, defeating McNeese State 3-1. The Privateers won the first two sets, maintaining a lead throughout most of the early going. After dropping the third set, the Privateers came back with a strong fourth set, which included a 7-1 run at the end to close out the victory.
 
Five Privateers notched double figures in kills including Blessing Dunn who continued her streak of matches with double digit kills, which now stands at seven straight. Celeste Ramirez went over 50 assists in a match for the second time this season in Friday's win Shaylene Reimer jumped to third in the Southland in aces after recording four against the Cowgirls.
 
New Orleans is now 9-3 at the HPC this season. The last time the Privateers had at least 10 wins at home in a season was in 2004 when they went 12-6. As it stands, their .750 home winning percentage would be the best mark since '08.
 
QUICK HITS
-Friday's win brought Coach Millicent Van Norden on the doorstep of the 200-win milestone. Van Norden recorded win # 199 on Friday.
-After recording 11 aces this season, the Privateers have recorded back-to-back matches of 10 or more aces on three different occasions.
-This will be the 13^th match the Privateers have played on Halloween. New Orleans is 7-5 all-time on the last day of October.
-Earlier this season, New Orleans won the first meeting against Nicholls in Thibodaux by a 3-1 score.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Nicholls lost their last outing to Southeastern 3-1 on Thursday evening. Each team scored at least 20 points in every set. The Colonels hit .211 on the night while Southeastern posted a .258 attack percentage Southeastern also had 13 more kills than the Colonels.
 
The Colonels won their first conference match of the season on Oct. 26 when they topped Abilene Christian 3-1. Nicholls had to go to extra rallies in the third and fourth set, but won both sets to take the game.
 
Anna Niederhauser has recorded her two best kill totals in her last two matches. Against Abilene Christian, Niederhauser went for a season-high 17 kills. She followed that up with 15 kills in the loss to Southeastern. On the year, Niederhauser leads the team in kills (221) and service aces (27).
 
The Colonels rank fifth in the Southland in digs at 14.85 per set. Individually, Stephanie Tobison ranks eighth in the conference while leading the team with 294 digs. 

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