Privateers Fall in Hard Fought Battle Against McNeese

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CONWAY, Ark. – The New Orleans Privateers (19-16) battled back from a 2-0 deficit to push a fourth, but wound up falling 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 25-15) to the McNeese State Cowgirls (15-17) on Friday at the Farris Center in the opening round of the Southland Tournament.
 
The Privateers battled back from falling short in the first two sets to push a fourth set. The Cowgirls though got out a five-point lead and continued to extend from there, scoring 10 of the last 15 points to cap off the set and the match.

"I told the seniors I couldn't be more proud of them for the commitment they made to us on the court and off the court. We spent so much time in the offseason really trying to redefine what our team culture was going to be before our young players got here and they all did an exceptional job at that. I think they really laid the foundation for where this program can go in the future and I'm really looking forward to next season," said Coach Millicent Van Norden.
 
Both teams battled service errors early on, but it was the Privateers who slowly separated to a four-point lead at 17-13 when McNeese State called timeout. The Cowgirls turned matters around offensively, recording nine kills in 14 attempts since the stoppage and scored seven of the last nine points to take the opening set.
 
The Privateers called an early timeout after falling behind 3-0 at the start of the second set. From there, the offense started to click which helped the Privateers eventually claw back ahead at 11-10. Both teams played evenly throughout the rest of the set as the score was tied 10 times after the Privateers took their first lead.  
 
McNeese State took a timeout after a service error made the score 24-23. Out of the break, Malina Sanchez posted a kill, sending one through the block to cap off the set and give the Cowgirls a 2-0 lead into the break.
 
Out of the halftime break, the Privateers fell behind by as many as five points and were trailing 15-10 when they rattled off seven straight points to take a two-point lead. The rest of the set was extremely close, but the Privateers closed it out when Blessing Dunn posted her 10^th kill of the match to push it to a fourth set.
 
Dunn finished with 11 kills and 13 digs while Kaitlyn Grice, Rondolyn Bryant, and Cara Sander each added nine kills. Celeste Ramirez had 39 assists, 13 digs, and added four kills in 10 attempts. Lauren Levy led the team in digs with 17. Also in double figures in digs was Shaylene Reimer who had 10. The Privateers had seven aces with three coming from Grice.
 
McNeese State hit .277 on the match and was led by Malina Sanchez (17 kills, 11 digs) along with Amber Fryer who added 14. Rebecca Korenek had nine kills and Rae Myers added eight. Bridget Justis had a match high 29 digs while Kelly Graham had 46 assists. The Cowgirls advance to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the semifinals.
 
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