BATON ROUGE – The New Orleans Beach Volleyball Team spent the last two days in Baton Rouge competing at LSU's Battle on the Bayou, where they put in meaningful reps despite the lack of victories on paper. They fell to Southern Miss, HCU, SFA, and LSU respectively.
The lineup was frequently tweaked this weekend. The team started Friday off with the consistent pairs on Courts 1-3.
Savannah Moberly joined
Ashley Salazar on Court 4 while
Lindsey Neal and
Dayla Ward started the weekend on Court 5. For day two, the lineups changed by game. Against SFA and LSU,
Jaedyn Newman and
Ava Rixford moved to Court 5. For the team's match against LSU,
Renata Dykstra and
Mona Salgado were moved to Court 4 while
Ashley Salazar and
Savannah Moberly were moved up to Court 3.
Mona Salgado and
Renata Dykstra's performance this weekend was the standout among the Privateers. Against HCU, they won their match in two sets. Salgado was impactful in her offensive power while Dykstra was dominant in her consistent, smart placement. Their mix of power and calm led to results worth celebrating. Against SFA, they finished their first set in dominant fashion, with Mona's dominant offense being the standout. Their momentum fell off in the second set. Despite staying neck and neck through the third, they lost by a hair. Despite the loss, they covered a lot of court during play and kept the energy high. They found a similar result in their first match against Southern Miss, except their third-set loss was slightly more decisive. Against LSU, they did not give in and were the second-to-last court to conclude play. It seemed their main obstacle to winning this weekend was losing their lead in the second set and struggling to gain back the momentum. Regardless. they walked away from this weekend with many things they can be proud of.
The other match victory of the weekend came from
Nikelle Lander and
Ivana de Carvalho Peixe against SFA. They started slow against the Jacks but built up their momentum to finish the first set with a 23-21 victory. After losing the second set, Lander and Peixe were able to overcome the Privateers' third-set record to secure the match win, particularly by capitalizing on the opponents' mistakes. On Court 1, the pair also put pressure on the Tigers in the second set of their match, maintaining a one-to-two-point margin for a good majority of the set.
Ashley Salazar and
Savannah Moberly were able to find small victories this weekend with an average 8-point lead in their first set against HCU (max 10 points). They made sure to capitalize on the opponents' mistakes and kept momentum on their side. The momentum switched to Huskies for the second set, and HCU sealed the victory after a competitive third set.
New Orleans's toughest opponent of the weekend by far was LSU. Despite the score, there were positive plays to highlight and take away.
Ava Rixford and
Tristin Smith had some incredible blocks, and
Grace Hinchman was everywhere in order to get a touch on the ball.
From now until the Conference Championships, the team's goal is a 1% improvement with each playable opportunity they have leading up to the tournament.
FINAL RESULTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
USM 5, UNO 0
1 Madison Cassidy/Zuzanna Michalska (USM) def.
Nikelle Lander/
Ivana de Carvalho Peixe (UNO) – 22-20, 21-16
2 Laurel Dennis/Sadie McAda (USM) def.
Tristin Smith/
Grace Hinchman (UNO) – 21-18, 21-16
3 Jaden White/Carmen Sanc Delgado (USM) def.
Renata Dykstra/
Mona Salgado (UNO) – 17-21, 21-19, 15-6
4 Jessica Fairly/Dylan Russell (USM) def.
Ashley Salazar/
Savannah Moberly (UNO) – 21-16, 21-13
5 Y-Nhu Do/Giovanna Gurg Bahia (USM) def.
Lindsey Neal/
Dayla Ward (UNO) – 21-10, 21-9
HCU 4, UNO 1
1 Rachel Heilbrun/Kristin Gilmour (HCU) def.
Nikelle Lander/
Ivana de Carvalho Peixe (UNO) – 21-18, 21-17
2 Alisia Silverthorn/Paige Palmer (HCU) def.
Tristin Smith/
Grace Hinchman (UNO) – 21-11, 21-14
3
Renata Dykstra/
Mona Salgado (UNO) def. Lauren Vickery/Alexa Landmark (HCU) – 21-14, 21-19
4 Tatum Lockhardt/Audrey Pearce (HCU) def.
Ashley Salazar/
Savannah Moberly (UNO) – 11-21, 21-12, 15-21
5 Killian Armstrong/Karla Sanchez George (HCU) def.
Lindsey Neal/
Dayla Ward (UNO) – 21-10, 21-12
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
SFA 4, UNO 1
1
Nikelle Lander/
Ivana de Carvalho Peixe (UNO) def. Katherine Hansen/Tessa Rogers (SFA) – 23-21, 14-21, 15-12
2 Kelly Johnson/Elaina Amador (SFA) def.
Tristin Smith/
Grace Hinchman (UNO) – 21-10, 21-11
3 Lizzie Denyer/Olivia Zeigler (SFA) def.
Renata Dykstra/
Mona Salgado (UNO) – 19-21, 21-12, 18-16
4 Kylie Golden/Ashley Boswell (SFA) def.
Ashley Salazar/
Savannah Moberly (UNO) – 21-15, 21-17
5 Jennah Atchley/Victoria Simmang (SFA) def.
Jaedyn Newman/
Ava Rixford (UNO) – 21-9, 21-15
LSU 5, UNO 0
1 Gabi Bailey/Parker Bracken (LSU) def.
Nikelle Lander/
Ivana de Carvalho Peixe (UNO) – 21-9, 21-18
2 Aubrey O'Gorman/Camryn Chatellier (LSU) def.
Tristin Smith/
Grace Hinchman (UNO) – 21-16, 21-13
3 Julia Sprecher/Elle Evers (LSU) def.
Ashley Salazar/
Savannah Moberly (UNO) – 21-9, 21-8
4 Emily Meyer/Skylar Martin (LSU) def.
Renata Dykstra/
Mona Salgado (UNO) – 21-17, 21-14
5 Kate Baker/Tatum Finlason (LSU) def.
Jaedyn Newman/
Ava Rixford (UNO) – 21-8, 21-12
NEXT UP
New Orleans has next weekend off as they set their sights on the Southland Conference Championship Tournament being held at their home court from April 23 to April 26. More information about the event will be publicized as the date gets closer and match schedules are finalized.
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