NATCHITOCHES, La. – The New Orleans Privateers (14-13, 8-7) went down to the wire but were defeated by a 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 11-25, 25-12, 15-12) score at the hands of the Northwestern State Lady Demons (14-12, 7-8) on Thursday at Prather Coliseum.
HOW IT HAPPENED
New Orleans was battling from behind for most of the deciding set. The Lady Demons established some early cushion with a 7-4 lead and extended it further to 12-6 at one point.
The Privateers had one last rally with kills from four different Privateers. The home side's lead was narrowed to 13-12. After an attack error brough about match point, a combo block from Reaghan Thompson and Addison McDermott sealed the deal for Northwestern State.
The Privateers and Lady Demons battled throughout the set but New Orleans got some separation. Tied at 9-9, New Orleans went on a run as they scored six of the next seven points. The lead was large as six points at 19-13 but Northwestern State battled back resiliently.
Three kills by Madisynne McQueen were part of a spurt that tied the score at 22-22. However, New Orleans saw out the rest of the set with a
Kristi Gomez kill and two Northwestern State attack errors.
Northwestern State came back with a huge run to avoid a 2-0 hole in the match. Down 18-12, the Lady Demons went on a 10-1 run. New Orleans got back to within a point twice but the Lady Demons held on despite being outhit (.238 to .145).
Maite Solabarrieta's service rotation helped break open the third set early. Nine straight points with three aces from the Chile native gave New Orleans an early 11-2 lead. They did not look back, hitting .300 for the set while Northwestern State was limited to an .026 attack percentage.
Trailing 8-3 in the fourth set, New Orleans was on a run that closed the gap. However, an overturned call flipped the score from what would have been 10-9 to 11-8 in favor of the Lady Demons. From there, the home side pulled away. They limited the Privateers to eight kills and both aces and both blocks in the set.
INSIDE THE BOX
Trinity Jackson finished the match with 18 kills and 20 digs for her first double-double of the season.
Sheilah Purcell racked up 35 of the team's season-high 104 digs. The team digs total was two shy of tying for the fifth-best match mark in program history.
Chandler Lee added 10 kills while
Sophia Ewalefo chipped in with eight.
Maite Solabarrieta had four service aces on the night.
Mauri Carver finished with four total blocks while
Sydney Gott was in on three rejections.
NEXT UP
The Privateers return home to face Northwestern State at the HPC on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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