NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Privateers overcame an early first set deficit and improved their attack percentage in each set on the way to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-13) victory over the Grambling Tigers on Sunday at the Human Performance Center.
Grambling broke out the gate quickly with a 10-5 lead, but the Privateers responded with a 6-1 run.
Celia Mbaya had back-to-back service aces that erased the Tigers lead. That set the stage for a seven-point swing to come back from a 21-18 deficit.
Ania Anderson and
Laura Piva were the big contributors to the ending of the set as they combined for four kills in that seven-point stretch.
Grambling once again built a five-point lead through the first 15 rallies, but the Privateers overcame the deficit behind a balanced attack and pressure on the service line.
Kaila Baker had aces on consecutive rallies and the Privateers separated in the back half of the set by scoring on 12 of the last 17 rallies.
The Privateers earned the early advantage and never relented in the third set. Five of the team's nine blocks for the match came in the final set. Anderson was in on two rejections and
Alessandra Meoni also had two blocks.
Meanwhile, the Privateers attack notched a .313 attack percentage with 11 kills and just one error in 32 attempts. For the match, the Privateer defense held Grambling to an .071 attack percentage.
The Tigers were led by Ra'Niya Brown and Kenya Lucas who each had eight kills. Leisey Keli'I contributed 13 digs.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Courtney Roundtree-New Orleans
Sana Dennis-Alabama A&M
Martyna Lubowicz-Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Alayna Howard-Grambling
Hannah Gonzalez-Abilene Christian
Tamara Chavez-Nicholls
Co-MVPs: Tamara Chavez-Nicholls and Fatima Ramirez-Alabama A&M
INSIDE THE BOX
Courtney Roundtree finished the day with 12 kills and four total blocks.
Akeir Scales had seven kills and three total blocks. Piva finished with seven kills and eight digs.
Defne Eciroglu had 33 assists and 10 digs.
NEXT UP
The Privateers will participate in the Pelican Invitational with a match at Tulane on Thursday, Sept. 18.
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