Privateers Face Final Road Test of Regular Season Against McNeese

NEW ORLEANS AT MCNEESE STATE
TUESDAY, NOV. 10 | 7 PM
MEMORIAL GYM | LAKE CHARLES, LA.

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FIRST SERVE
The New Orleans Privateers (18-13, 7-7 Southland) will face their final road test of the season when they face the McNeese State Cowgirls (12-17, 7-7) on Tuesday at Memorial Gym. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
The Privateers finished off another 3-0 week with a three-set victory over Sam Houston State on Saturday. New Orleans' defense held the Bearkats to an attack percentage of just .050 in the third set. Keke Irby led the team with 13 kills and hit .500 for the match in 20 attempts. Blessing Dunn and Kaitlyn Grice each added nine kills to the offense.
 
Five players went for over 20 kills last week in a balanced attack. They were: Grice (28), Dunn (27), Irby (26), Cara Sander (25) and Rondolyn Bryant (21). Also, Southeastern, Lamar, and Sam Houston State combined to hit just .128 against the Privateers defense.
 
Shaylene Reimer won the Southland Defensive Player of the Week award for this week. The announcement came on Monday afternoon following Reimer's 55 digs in last week's trio of matches. Reimer also added five service aces to her count and remains in the top five in the Southland in aces per set. Reimer's match high last week was 21 recorded against Southeastern.
 
QUICK HITS
-Reimer became the first Privateer since 2009 (Nicky Valenti) to win a conference Defensive Player of the Week award.
-The win against Sam Houston State on Saturday marked the Privateers' first in 14 tries against the Bearkats.
-New Orleans also tied the program record for home wins in a season, notching their 12^th home victory of the year.
-Grice had a hitting percentage of .520 last week (28 kills, 2 errors, 50 attempts) and is fifth in the conference in hitting percentage.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
McNeese State enters in a three-way tie along with the Privateers and Houston Baptist after the Cowgirls pulled off a five-set victory against Incarnate Word. Three players recorded season highs in kills, which included Malina Sanchez who posted 24 kills in the win. Amber Fryer and Rebecca Korenek also had season bests with 15 kills each.
 
The Cowgirls have had their fair share of five-set matches: nine in all have gone the full distance this season. McNeese State is 4-5 in those contests including a 3-3 mark in conference play. On Saturday, the Cowgirls had to go a couple of extra rallies in the fifth set, topping Incarnate Word 16-14.
 
Bridget Justis is fourth in the conference in digs at 4.33 per set. Justis has cleared the 20-dig mark in five of the last six matches, which included a season-best 29 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Oct. 24. Justis has 494 total digs on the season. She is also tied with teammate Kelly Graham for most service aces with 22.
 
On the season, McNeese State has a 7-3 mark at home. Sanchez has 360 kills on the season including 233 in conference-only matches, ranking second in the league. All three home losses have come in conference to Southeastern, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Abilene Christian.
 
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