CHARLESTON, S.C. – The New Orleans Privateers (7-7) overcame an early deficit behind a career night from
Ehize Omoghibo and a strong, balanced attack in a 3-2 win (21-25, 25-17, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11) over the College of Charleston Cougars (3-9) on Saturday at the TD Arena.
The victory moved New Orleans to 2-0 in five-set matches on the season and 3-0 in true road matches in 2019.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
New Orleans hit .337 as a team and a big part of that was Omoghibo who had a career-high 21 kills with a .378 attack percentage.
Brianna Vega had 18 kills and hit .425.
Sh'Diamond Holly added 13 kills and seven blocks while hitting at a .370 clip.
Lucie Pokorna finished with 52 assists, 14 digs, and eight kills.
Andrea Nava had 16 digs and 10 assists.
Rhyan Rand added 12 digs and seven kills.
FIRST SET
The Privateers had five blocks in the set, but could not come back to level terms after falling into an early 9-4 deficit. New Orleans closed the gap to one on two different occasions, but Charleston led throughout the opening stanza. Vega had five kills while Holly had three kills and four total blocks.
SECOND SET
The set was tight early on as the Cougars jumped to an early 3-0 lead. The Privateers came back to tie it on five different occasions before surging ahead for good. New Orleans scored 10 straight points to emphatically break an 11-11 tie. Pokorna had three aces in that stretch and an ace from Nava finished the set for New Orleans. The Privateers hit .355 in the set (14 kills, three errors, 31 attempts).
THIRD SET
New Orleans got off to a hot start as they built a 9-5 lead in the early stages. The Privateers continued to pull away behind a set that saw them hit .387 as a unit. Omoghibo had four kills in the set while Holly followed with three. The Privateers led by as much as 10 during the set.
FOURTH SET
Charleston had nine kills and no errors in their first 22 attempts. That helped the home side develop a 15-11 lead. A Privateer timeout could not slow down the Cougars who went on to extend their lead to eight with the first four points out of the stoppage. The Privateers then began a furious late rally to cut the lead to one point twice. However, Charleston held on to force a fifth and deciding set.
FIFTH SET
Neither team could get on a run of points in the early stages. Charleston got to a 6-4 lead on a block, but the Privateers came back to level the score at 9-9. Then New Orleans took over. Three more Omoghibo kills put New Orleans with match point. That's when
Hannah Volpi finished the victory with her second ace of the match.
NEXT UP
The Privateers return home to open Southland play against Lamar on Tuesday, Sep. 24. The match is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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