Bryant Reaches Milestones In Volleyball's Loss

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans hosted its toughest competition of the season on Thursday evening in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, giving the reigning Southland Conference champions a pair of competitive sets to start off but falling 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 25-15, 25-17).

In the loss, junior middle blocker Rondolyn Bryant (Exercise Physiology) logged nine kills and two blocks, giving her 500 career kills and 150 career blocks. She is just the second Privateer to record both numbers since the NCAA changed to a 25-point rally format prior to the 2008 season, joining Edina Dobi who ended her career with the royal blue and silver in 2010 with 530 kills and 152 blocks. Bryant's pair of rejections moved her into third for total blocks since 2008, while her 508 kills ranks fifth.

"We played the plays that weren't predictable well tonight," head coach Millicent Van Norden explained. "You try your hardest to have set plays, but there are moments where you have to change the play based on the situation and we did a much better job sticking with those plays."

New Orleans (4-18, 1-8 SLC) got a strong outing from its middle blockers, providing over half the team kills with a combined 27 on a .309 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kaitlyn Grice (Biology) matched Bryant with nine kills and a pair of blocks while senior Keke Richards (Business Management) chipped in six kills with a pair of blocks.

"We tried to give the middles more attempts to keep our offense unpredictable," Van Norden continued. "The more offensive weapons you have, the harder it is to defend so on a night where all of our middle blockers are playing well it makes you harder to defend."

Freshman outside hitter Jordan Yauch (Biological Science) finished the match one dig away from a double-double with 10 kills and nine digs with a team-best two service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Blessing Dunn (Business Management) anchored the Privateers on defense with 10 digs.

After dropping a back-and-forth opening set 25-21, The Privateers pushed ahead in the sequel with a 4-1 start off of service aces from Yauch and Thomas plus a kill from Yauch. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (14-7, 9-0 SLC) used a 5-1 to take the 6-5 advantage, holding onto the lead until a 5-0 UNO run with a service ace from sophomore outside hitter Lane Hindenburg (Exercise Science & Physiology) and a kill from Yauch to make it 12-9. The visitors retied it up at 13-all, but the Privateers managed another 3-0 spurt with kills from Bryant and freshman outside hitter Brianna Vega (Biological Science) to make it 18-15. UNO held onto the lead, forcing set at 24-22 before a pair of Corpus Christi points tied it up at 24-24. Bryant gave the hosts another chance at set point with a termination on the ensuing play, ending the frame with her second-consecutive kill.

Corpus Christi responded with a .483 hitting percentage in the third set to take the 2-1 overall lead, creating a 9-3 advantage in the final stanza and preventing the Privateers from bringing the deficit to within three.

The Privateers conclude the homestand on Saturday, Oct. 22, when UNO hosts Incarnate Word with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m. Admission to all home volleyball matches is free.