NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers set the tone early with a strong first set on offense and held off an Arkansas-Pine Bluff second set rally as they won 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-14) on Thursday night in the home opener at the Human Performance Center.
Celia Mbaya was a big part of the Privateers' strong all-around effort as she notched her first double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs.
The Privateers hit .464 in the first set with 15 kills to just two errors in 28 attempts. A 9-3 run to start the match was keyed by two kills each from
Courtney Roundtree,
Ania Anderson and
Laura Piva. The Golden Lions got no closer than within four points for the remainder of the set.
In the second set, the Privateers raced out to a 9-1 lead but Arkansas Pine Bluff came back with a combination of strong serving and an attack headlined by Ashanti Butler and Zuzanna Zietek. The Golden Lions rallied back to take a brief 14-13 lead.
New Orleans responded by gaining some late separation with a 22-19 advantage. UAPB came back to tie the score at 23-23, but kills by Roundtree and
Vanae Sapp helped cap off a ferocious set in the Privateers' favor.
The Privateers used that momentum to run away with the third set.
Defne Eciroglu's service rotation helped facilitate a 6-0 run that gave the Privateers a 14-7 advantage. That was all the lead they needed as New Orleans coasted to the wire with three kills by
Celia Mbaya in the last seven rallies.
New Orleans is now 6-1 all-time against Arkansas-Pine Bluff after the victory. The Privateers were at plus-19 in the kill department (46-27) and had 13 more digs (48-35) than their competitors.
Zietek led the Golden Lions' offense with nine kills while Butler finished with six kills.
INSIDE THE BOX
Roundtree continued her streak of matches with double-digit kills as she scored 11 with a .368 attack percentage. Sapp finished with seven kills and a team-high 14 digs.
Alessandra Meoni had nine kills and
Ella Moss finished with 11 digs. Eciroglu finished with 26 assists.
Akeir Scales was in on three blocks in the third set.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will host Southern on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
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