Beach Volleyball Heads Across Town For Pelican Classic

NEW ORLEANS – With 22 regular-season matches all being played on the road, the University of New Orleans beach volleyball team will have a much shorter trip over the weekend as the Privateers will take part in the Pelican Classic hosted by Tulane University at White Sands in Metairie, Louisiana.

UNO will open the Pelican Classic on Friday with contests against Spring Hill and LSU at 10:20 a.m. and 2:20 p.m., respectively, and will wrap up the weekend with Saturday-morning showdowns vs. Missouri Baptist at 9 and host Tulane at 11:40. The Privateers enter the weekend 0-7 on the year and obviously looking to break through in the win column and show the beach volleyball world what the second-year program can do.

"Each pair is starting to figure out their own identity and putting together some decent performances," UNO head coach Millicent Van Norden said "We are continually challenging each player to work harder during rallies if they want the big payoff – winning.  I believe they've accepted the challenge and I'm looking forward to watching them continue to get better each outing."

New Orleans' schedule to date has been a tough one as four of the seven matches came against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 10. While there are no ranked foes on tap for the weekend, the four opponents present a formidable challenge.

Spring Hill comes to town 3-5 on the year and fresh off a 5-0 win over Principia College on Wednesday afternoon in Mobile, Alabama. LSU, a team UNO faced during its opening-weekend trip to Florida for the FIU Fort Lauderdale Beach Classic, is 4-3 so far in 2016. The Tigers, however, are looking to snap a three-match skid after falling to No. 8 Stetson, No. 9 FIU and No. 10 Georgia State – three of the same teams the Privateers faced last week at the Tiger Beach Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Like UNO, Missouri Baptist is looking for its first win of the year at 0-6. The last time out, the Spartans dropped a 5-0 decision to Nebraska. Tulane, meanwhile, enters the weekend 7-2 and fresh off a 3-1 performance last weekend at the Gamecock Invitational where the Green wave downed Coastal Carolina, Mercer and UAB.

Following the Pelican Classic, the Privateers will head to Birmingham, Alabama, to participate in the Blazer Beach Duals from April 1-2. While there, UNO will square off against UAB and Jacksonville State on Friday as well as ULM and Spring Hill on Saturday.
 
ON THE TUBE: Friday's No. 1 singles contest between New Orleans and LSU will be televised live on Cox Sports Television. The match between the Privateers and Tigers is set to begin at 2:20 p.m. While the lineups are not set, UNO has sent the duo of freshman Shaylene Reimer and sophomore Cara Sander out to face each opponents' top pair in all seven matches so far this season. LSU is expected to send out senior Katie Lindelow and freshman Ashley Allmer for that contest.