NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers pushed the defending regular season champion, HCU Huskies deep into the first and third sets but were defeated 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-22) on Saturday afternoon at the Human Performance Center.
New Orleans kept themselves within range after HCU started the day with a 5-1 lead. The Privateers eventually got to a level score at 20-20 when
Tatiana Mercer scored an ace off a short serve. The Huskies responded with a 5-1 run to close the set. HCU had kills from three different players in that stretch.
The second set began in similar fashion and HCU used that early momentum to pull away on the scoreboard. The Huskies hit a stellar .552 in the second set and outpaced the Privateers 18-9 in the kill department.
New Orleans led early in the third set and grabbed an advantage at a couple of different points, the deepest being when the Privateers were ahead 15-14. After the score was tied at 19-19, HCU went on a critical 3-0 spurt behind two kills from Anna Gadway.
From there, the Huskies were able to hold off New Orleans down the stretch and improved their conference record to 5-2.
INSIDE THE BOX
Buse Kocakaya hit .643 with 10 kills and one error in 14 attempts.
Karen Cordero Barr also reached double figures with 10 kills.
Courtney Roundtree added six kills on 11 attempts.
Rita Zecchin finished with 16 digs.
Chandler Lee added 11 digs, a new career-high.
Sydney Gott finished with five kills and three total blocks (one solo).
Three Huskies landed in double figures in kills. Sara Arroyo had 12, Gadway had 11 and Audrey Pearce finished with 10 kills. Pearce also added five total blocks. Kaley Feris crested 1,400 career digs and led the team in that department on the day with 13.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will travel to Corpus Christi on Thursday. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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