NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers (5-4) will play their final non-conference weekend before turning the page to Southland play. The Privateers will face UT-Arlington, Lamar and Prairie View A&M in the UTA Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
WHERE TO WATCH
The Privateers' match against UTA on Friday at 11 a.m. will be on ESPN+. The remaining two matches will be broadcast on WACInternational.tv. Sign-up is required but does not require any cost.
ABOUT THE PRIVATEERS
Aces and digs are where the Privateers have fronted the pack throughout the first three weeks. Heading into the weekend, New Orleans is still tops in the league in aces at 2.00 per set and second in digs at 17.02 per set.
Nationally, the Privateers' dig total ranks 14
th in the nation while their aces per set checks in at 36
th among Division I members.
Sophia Ewalefo earned Offensive Player of the Week in the Southland and New Orleans Invitational Tournament MVP. Ewalefo finished with 44 kills and 39 digs against Southern, Texas Southern and Western Illinois. The freshman has 2.74 kills and 2.68 digs per set on the year.
Defensively,
Rita Zecchin had the libero duties and posted 4.00 digs per set. Zecchin also leads the team in service aces with 14 heading into the weekend.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Vs. UTA 1-1 (Last met: 9/6/97)
Vs. Lamar 19-27 (Last met: 9/2/22)
Vs. PVAM 6-2 (Last met: 9/7/18)
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UT-Arlington enters the weekend 5-4. The Mavericks have four-set wins over two Southland schools: Texas A&M-Commerce and McNeese. Brianna Ford enters this weekend with just shy of four kills per set at 3.99.
Lamar (4-4) defeated the Privateers in the UNA Invitational at North Alabama. The Cardinals also won both matches at the Lakefront in the New Orleans Invitational. Lamar ranks fourth in the Southland in kills and hitting percentage.
Prairie View A&M (2-11) just defeated Lamar on Wednesday for their second win of the season. The Panthers got a big night from Kylee Owens who finished with 28 kills and 17 digs. Prairie View's first win came against Huston Tillotson.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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@PrivateersVB on Twitter,
@PrivateersVB on Instagram, like
/PrivateersVB on Facebook and subscribe to the
PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
