Freshman Lead Privateers In Loss against Lamar

BOX SCORE (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans volleyball team hosted Lamar in a Southland Conference match on Saturday afternoon, falling to the visiting Cardinals 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19) despite the strong play from the Privateers' freshman class.

In the contest, Sarah Thomas (Accounting and Financing) posted 55 assists, the most by a Privateers in a Southland Conference match. She set her personal-best in total assists and assists per set average with a 13.75 average. Also setting a program record was outside hitter Brianna Vega (Biological Science) with 19 kills, the most in a Southland Conference bout, off a .455 hitting percentage while Jordan Yauch (Biological Science) finished with a career-high 18 terminations.

"We worked a lot with the outside hitters and told them not to force their attacks," head coach Millicent Van Norden said on Vega and Yauch's performance. "I was impressed with how prepared they were for this match and it showed on the court."

On the defensive end, Samantha Uline (Exercise Physiology) matched her personal-bests in digs with 20 and dig per set average with 5.0. Middle blocker Rondolyn Bryant (Exercise Physiology) protected the net with four total blocks, matching the previous match for her season-high and extending her streak of multiple blocks in a match to three.

"Our goal this match was to be more aggressive offensively, and we did that," Van Norden continued. "Now that we have stabilized our offense, we need to continue to make defensive plays and work on not getting into early deficits."

New Orleans started the afternoon strong, boasting a .308 hitting percentage en route to the opening set victory. The Privateers scored the opening two points of the frame and never trailed in the 26-24 victory. UNO created separation in a tight opening game with a 4-0 run to make it 13-8. New Orleans was able to keep the separation, until a late rally by Lamar knotted up the score at 22-all. The two sides exchanged the ensuing four points to keep it tied at 24-24 before the Privateers took the 1-0 advantage with back-to-back points.

UNO tried to keep the momentum from the opener going in the second frame, using kills from Lane Hindenburg (Exercise Science and Physiology) and Vega to take the early 3-1 lead. Lamar knotted it up at 6-6, but the Privateers were able to hold onto the lead and extended the separation to three at 12-9. New Orleans held onto the lead until a three-point rally by Lamar put the visitors up 20-19. UNO responded with a kill to tie the score, and knotted it up again at 21-21 before a 4-1 run by Lamar ended the frame.

Lamar opener the third frame with a 6-1 run to create an early advantage. Midway through the frame the Privateers managed to cut the deficit to one after kills from Keke Richards (Business Management) and Vega made it 12-13, but a 3-1 response from Lamar recreated the separation at 16-13. Bryant, Yauch and Vega logged kills in a Privateers response to knot up the score at 16-all, but an equal counter by Lamar made it 16-19 and kept the royal blue and silver from bringing it within one for the remainder of the stanza.

Another big Cardinals run created an early separation in the final set, this time a 6-0 run to put the visitors ahead 3-8. UNO was able to bring it to within three after a 4-0 rally highlighted by back-to-back kills from Yauch made it 10-13, cutting it to two at 14-16. Lamar pushed the advantage back up to six with a 4-0 rally and kept the separation.

Privateers are back in action on Thursday, Sept. 29, when they hit the road to take on Abilene Christian with first serve slated for 6:30 p.m. UNO returns to the Human Performance Center on Tuesday, Oct. 4 when McNeese State comes to the Lakefront for a Southland Conference match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m., admission is free.