LAFAYETTE, La. – The New Orleans Privateers were in a fierce early battle, but ultimately fell 3-0 to the Tarleton State Texans in the regular season opener on Friday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym in the Sawyer Camillo Classic.
The opening set saw the score tied in each of the first 16 points as neither team had more than a one-point lead in that span. From there, the Texans used a 6-1 run, the first of the match to take the opening set 25-19.
Courtney Roundtree had five kills in seven attempts for the Privateers in the set.
Tarleton State carried that momentum into the early portion of the second set as they built up a 14-5 lead. The Privateers engineered their first big rally of the match as they scored on six of seven rallies to cut the Texans lead down to four. Five different Privateers notched a kill in that stretch.
The Texans withstood the run though and took the second set 25-17. Set three was tight throughout the first 30 rallies as the Privateers only trailed 16-14. The last point in that sequence was a ball that was ruled in for a Texans point and challenged by the Privateers, but the call stood.
From there, Tarleton State had three service aces in the last nine rallies of the game to secure the decision.
INSIDE THE BOX
Celia Mbaya, in her Privateer debut, led the way with eight kills. Roundtree and
Vanae Sapp each had seven kills.
Defne Eciroglu and
Rylie Hallman split the setter duties for the majority of the match and they combined for 22 assists. Sapp and
Peyton Cole led the team in digs with six each.
Akeir Scales and
Alessandra Meoni each had two block assists.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will face Texas Southern on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the second day of the Sawyer Camillo Classic.
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