NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans athletic department is finally back, nearing full steam, as almost all student-athletes have returned to campus for the Spring semester. With their return, the Privateers are happy to announce five sports are in action this week in one of the busiest weeks of the academic school year so far.
Contests will be featured on Wednesday (WBB Home, MBB Away), Thursday (Women's Tennis), Friday (T&F at LSU), Saturday (basketball doubleheader at Southeastern) and Sunday (Men's Tennis).
MEN'S BASKETBALL
The Privateers continue the Louisiana road trip to end the opening month of Southland Conference play. New Orleans visits Northwestern State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and heads to Hammond for an ESPN+ contest versus Southeastern Louisiana at 4 p.m.
The Privateers went 2-2 against the Demons and Lions last year, sweeping the series against Southeastern.
New Orleans ranks sixth in the league at 3-3 and the Demons and Lions are 2-4.
Damion Rosser ranks fourth in rebounds (7.4), field goal percentage (50.8), and fifth in points per game (15.7 points) while leading the league in minutes played.
Troy Green is eighth in scoring.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
New Orleans is in the heart of Southland play and is featured across two conference matchups this week, this Wednesday, Jan. 27 against Northwestern State at the UNO Lakefront Arena and this Saturday, Jan. 30 just up the road at Southeastern at the University Center. Tipoff for Wednesday's home contest is set for 7 PM while Saturday's clash will begin at 1 PM.
Fans can watch both contests live, with Wednesday being on
UNOPrivateers.com/Watch and Saturday getting the
national spotlight on ESPN+.
Dionjhae Thomas led the Privateers in their last game as the senior had one of the best performances of her career as she set a new career-best with 20 points and eight assists. She got to do it in front of her hometown as New Orleans traveled to Nicholls, the final time that she will play in Thibodaux wearing an UNO uniform.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
The Privateers open their season with a familiar opponent when they face the Tulane Green Wave on Thursday, Jan. 28 at City Park. The match is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. start.
Six student-athletes return from last year's squad, which was 6-4 when the season was halted.
Ank Vullings raced to a 10-0 start in singles to help lead the way.
Mar Gendra (8-2) and
Claudette Gilhespie (7-3) also had strong showings in singles during the spring.
In doubles, Gilhespie and
Lea Alguacil posted a 5-1 mark. The Privateers as a team went 16-8 in doubles matches last year.
New to the squad are three Division I transfers in
Estelle Vanthier,
Anastasia Vaganova, and
Lina Hohnhold.
MEN'S TENNIS
The men's tennis squad will get their season rolling with a neutral site match in Baton Rouge against Rice on Sunday, Jan. 31. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m.
New Orleans has six returners off a team that started the year 6-2. Collectively, the Privateers won 67% of their singles matches (30-15) on the abbreviated spring 2020 campaign. The leading returner in wins is
Misha Fomenkov who had five.
Fomenkov and
Johannes Klein formed a solid pairing in doubles last season as they won all four of their decisions. The returners are joined by two newcomers who both come from Germany:
Luke Joujan and
Marcel Volz.
TRACK & FIELD
The men's and women's track & field program will be back with their second meet of the season with LSU's Louisiana Invite on Friday, Jan. 29. The field portion of the schedule will get started at 10 AM CT while track events will begin at 1 PM.
Both teams were ranked in the Top-25 in the South Central Region in the first edition of the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field TFRI which was released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday.
