NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of the Human Performance Center on Tuesday, Oct. 4, when the Privateers play host Southland Conference foe McNeese State with first serve slated for 7 p.m. UNO Zeta Tau Alpha sorority will be teaming up for "Breast Cancer Awareness Night", with the Privateers wearing pink while ZTA will be having a fundraiser with proceeds going towards their foundation, which benefits the education of breast cancer awareness.
UNO will be looking for a similar result to last season's match on the Privateers' home court, where a 3-1 victory sparked a five-match conference win-streak that helped propel the royal blue and silver into the Southland Conference Tournament.
"We have to compete better than we have all season to win on Tuesday," head coach
Millicent Van Norden said. "Both teams are in the same boat – looking to get their first win in conference play – so we are expecting a hard-fought battle."
New Orleans only played one match last week, losing to Abilene Christian on the road to give them a 3-13 overall record and 0-3 in SLC play. The Privateers are averaging 11.14 kills on a .140 hitting percentage with 10.51 assists, 12.57 digs, 1.56 blocks and the second-highest service ace per set average in the conference at 1.42.
Freshman seter
Sarah Thomas (Accounting and Finances) quarterbacks the attack, dishing out the third-most assists in the league with 9.15. The bulk of the rookie's passes go to freshman outside hitter
Jordan Yauch (Biological Science), who averages 2.81 kills per set, the 10
th best in the SLC, with sophomore outside hitter
Blessing Dunn (Business Management) and freshman outside hitter
Brianna Vega (Biological Science) chipping in 2.46 and 2.23, respectively. Redshirt-junior outside
Cara Sanders (Biological Science) averages 0.33 service aces per set, fourth in the conference, while sophomore right-side hitter
Lane Hindenburg (Exercise Science) increased her season average to 0.29, tied for eighth in the conference, after boasting six against ACU.
On defense, sophomore libero
Samantha Uline (Exercise Physiology) anchors the team with 3.54 digs per set, the eighth-highest average in the conference, with Dunn and Yauch contributing 2.96 and 2.15. At the net, senior middle blocker
Rondolyn Bryant (Exercise Physiology) paces the Privateers with 33 total blocks while sophomore middle
Kaitlyn Grice (Biology) averages 0.86 blocks per set.
McNeese State is coming off an 0-2 week, dropping road matches at Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State, to give them a 4-15 overall record and 0-4 mark in league play. Despite their record, the Cowgirls rank in the top half of the conference in a plethora of team statistics averaging 11.15 assists (4
th), 11.84 kills (5
th) on a .176 hitting percentage (5
th) and 15.61 digs (5
th) while also averaging 1.27 blocks and .72 service aces.
Alexandra Aguilera lead the offense with 9.60 assists per set, the second-highest mark in the SLC, with Katelyn Elliot averaging the seventh-highest kills per set average at 3.1. Bridget Justis anchors the defense with 4.37 digs per set, ranking fourth in the league.
Following the match, The Privateers begin a three-match road swing starting at Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. UNO returns to the HPC on Tuesday, Oct. 18, when they host Nicholls at 7 p.m. Admission to all home volleyball matches is free.
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