NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers outpaced the Nicholls Colonels by 18 kills and several Privateers accomplished new season-highs in a 3-1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-19, 25-18) victory over Nicholls on Thursday at the Human Performance Center.
The victory was the ninth for the Privateers in their last 11 meetings against Nicholls.
Nicholls gained the early momentum in the first set after a four-point spurt gave them an early 6-3 edge. The Colonels hit .412 in the first set and never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the opening set.
From there, the Privateers took over as the versatility from the middles helped set the tone for the remainder of the night.
Sydney Gott notched a season high in kills (13) and total blocks (5) while
Courtney Roundtree added eight kills, six digs and three blocks.
The offense from the outside hitters provided more depth to the attack on the night as
Ryan Williams (13) and
Buse Kocakaya (12) both landed in double figures in kills. The Privateers raced out to big early leads in the second set at 8-3 and the third set at 9-3.
In both of those sets, New Orleans never lost the lead.
The fourth set saw the Privateers have to dig out of a 9-5 hole early on but the service rotation of Roundtree helped bring New Orleans back to level terms and eventually to a 12-9 lead. Three different Privateers recorded kills in that stretch.
New Orleans capped off the night by hitting .382 in the fourth set while they held the Colonels to almost as many attack errors (6) as kills (7).
INSIDE THE BOX
Defne Eciroglu set a new career-high in assists for the second consecutive match as she finished with 49 along with three service aces.
Rita Zecchin had 21 digs and
Karen Cordero Barr added 12 along with nine kills.
Tatiana Mercer added seven digs while
Chandler Lee chipped in with six digs. The Privateers had 64 digs as a unit.
Nicholls was led by Gracie Campbell who posted 11 kills and Trinity Vinzant who posted nine kills and 14 digs. Mackenzie Pryor had nine kills with six coming in the first set.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will host HCU on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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