Hindenburg Has Career-Outing For Volleyball In Loss To Central Arkansas

BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – Despite having the most efficient hitter on the court, the University of New Orleans lost 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-18) to Central Arkansas on the road in a Southland Conference match on Saturday afternoon.

In the match, sophomore outside hitter Lane Hindenburg (Exercise Science) boasted a .778 hitting percentage on nine attacks, the highest clip by a Privateers' player in a Southland Conference match with at least nine attempts. The Palatine, Illinois product ended the match with seven kills and no attacking errors.

"We came out today mentally aggressive, but each set presented a different challenge that we had to adapt to," head coach Millicent Van Norden explained. "As we resolved one challenge another one would present itself. Overall we played well, but each set we give away points we should have won and against a strong team like Central Arkansas it's difficult to regroup.

Senior middle blocker Keke Richards (Business Management) paced New Orleans' (4-16, 1-6 SLC) attack with nine kills off a .471 clip with freshman Brianna Vega (Biological Science) chipping in eight terminations. Freshman Sarah Thomas (Accounting and Finance) dished out 35 assists, her second-highest total in a three-set match, while filling out the stat sheet with seven digs, a kill, service ace and an assisted block.

On defense, sophomore defensive specialist Samantha Uline (Exercise Physiology) and outside hitter Blessing Dunn (Business Management) both finished the contest with 11 digs, followed by freshman defensive specialist Andrea Nava (Education) who posted 10 digs for the second-consecutive match.         

After a slow opening set, where the Privateers hit .000, UNO came out more competitive in the second frame recording a game-high 18 kills as a team on a .412 hitting percentage. Central Arkansas (10-11, 4-5 SLC) held an eight-point lead 17-11 late in the set before UNO scored eight of the following 10 points with four kills from Hindenburg  in the span plus terminations from Kaitlyn Grice (Biology), Dunn and Vega to knot up the score 19-all. Despite never leading in the final stretch, the royal blue and white kept it within two points, even tying the score up at 23-23 before the host scored back-to-back points to take the set.

In similar fashion to the second stanza, UCA jumped ahead and created separation late in the match with New Orleans catching up. Trailing 17-12 this time, the Privateers fought back and cut the separation to two at 19-17 before a 3-0 run by the hosts recreated their five-point advantage at 22-17.

The Privateers begin a three-match homestand beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 18 against Nicholls with first serve slated for 7 p.m. followed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday, Oct. 20 and Incarnate Word on Saturday, Oct. 22. Admission to all home volleyball matches is free.