Privateers Start Five-Match Road Trip, Southland Play at Houston Baptist

NEW ORLEANS AT HOUSTON BAPTIST
THURSDAY- 7 PM
SHARP GYM | HOUSTON, TEXAS

LIVE STATS | VIDEO | TWITTER | GAME NOTES
 
 
FIRST SERVE
The New Orleans Privateers volleyball team (8-5) starts up Southland play and a five-match road trip as they take on the Houston Baptist Huskies (7-7) on Thursday night at Sharp Gym. The match is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
 
The Privateers finished a 2-0 weekend in their last outings. After topping Tennessee State in four sets, New Orleans went on to defeat Grambling 3-0. With the wins, New Orleans remained undefeated all-time against both schools (6-0 combined). New Orleans held Grambling to single digits in points in each of the first two sets.
 
Lauren Levy was honored before the weekend for reaching 1,000 career digs. Levy achieved the mark against Alabama A&M, becoming the eighth Privateer to record at least 1,000 digs for a career. Over the weekend, Levy passed Diane Beckmeyer for seventh on the all-time list. Levy leads the team in digs this season with 122.
 
The Privateers are ranked in the top five in the Southland in three categories: kills (3^rd), assists (2^nd), and service aces (1^st). New Orleans has 99 aces on the year, 13 more than second place in the conference (Central Arkansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).
 
QUICK HITS
-Kaitlyn Grice is fourth in the Southland in hitting percentage and has five matches this season with at least 15 attempts and an attack percentage higher than .350.
-New Orleans is 0-4 against Houston Baptist. Three of those meetings have taken place at the HPC.
-Keke Irby has a hitting percentage of .500 over her last four matches and racked up 16 points in the two-match weekend against Tennessee State and Grambling.
 
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Huskies (7-7) come in having lost three straight at the Golden Hurricane Invitational. Houston Baptist lost 3-1 to Tulsa and Oral Roberts and 3-0 to North Texas. Houston Baptist is 4-0 at home this season.
 
Coach Trent Herman achieved his 100^th career win in the Huskies' last win against McNeese State at the Jaguar Invitational. Herman is in his 4^th season in Houston and currently has a 57-53 record as the Huskies' head coach. Prior to coaching Houston Baptist, Herman spent two years as the head coach at St. Thomas University in Houston.
 
Houston Baptist is led by Jessica Wooten who was named Southland Offensive Player of the Week for Sept. 14. Wooten leads the team in kills, digs, and service aces. The Huskies also have a strong blocking presence at the net, ranking fourth in the conference. Blair Gillard has 49 total blocks while 2014 Southland Newcomer of the Year, Allison Doerpinghaus has 44 blocks.
 
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.