NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers provided a stern challenge but the UTRGV Vaqueros emerged victorious by a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) score line on Thursday night at the Human Performance Center.
After falling behind 4-0 at the outset,
Buse Kocakaya engineered a strong service rotation that put the Privateers in front 5-4. UTRGV responded behind a hot early start from Claudia Lupescu to grab a 12-7 advantage.
UTRGV hit .313 in the opening set and had five service aces to take the opening set 25-17.
The Vaqueros got some early separation on the scoreboard as they built a 15-7 lead in the set. A resilient Privateers squad clawed their way back and scored four of five points to trim the Vaquero advantage.
Divine Muo,
Chelsea Daffin and
Courtney Roundtree each notched a kill in that stretch, but UTRGV came up with back-to-back kills to turn back the late rally and win the second set.
UTRGV again built an early advantage at 14-8, but a furious Privateer run of four points trimmed that lead to two. The Privateers trailed 16-15 when UTRGV dealt the decisive run that lasted five rallies. Though New Orleans battled until the end, the Vaqueros held off New Orleans for their 10
th Southland victory of the season.
Nadine Zech led the Vaquero offense with 14 kills. Isabella Costantini had 34 assists in the three-set victory. Perris Key and Roslyn Guerra combined for 15 kills. Celianiz Cabranes led the defense with 19 digs.
INSIDE THE BOX
Roundtree paced the Privateer offense with nine kills. She also picked up two blocks and now has a rejection in 23 of 25 matches this year. Daffin finished with seven kills and 10 digs. Muo and Kocakaya had five kills each.
Lani Alleman led the Privateers in digs with 11.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 12 p.m.
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