NEW ORLEANS—New Orleans used solid blocking and several scoring runs here Tuesday night to defeat McNeese 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 26-16) in a Southland Conference volleyball match.
 
The Privateers (11-10, 4-3 SLC) set the tone at the net early and ended the match with 24 blocks including 20 block assists.
 
McNeese (8-11, 1-6 SLC) struggled to get its offense flowing but did make runs throughout the match but UNO's net defense consistently halted those runs.
 
Keegan Nelms led McNeese with six kills while Allison Lippert led with three service aces and three blocks. Madison Fontenot picked up 10 digs on defense.
 
The Cowgirls opened the match by taking a 2-1 lead but a 10-0 UNO run with four of those 10 points coming off blocks put the Privateers up 11-2.
 
McNeese would score seven of the next 10 points to cut the lead to 14-9 but another run by UNO put them up 20-15 before outscoring the Cowgirls 5-2 the rest of the way to pick up the first set win.
 
The Privateers picked up where they left off in the opening set to take an early 5-0 lead in set 2 then extended the lead to 14-7.
 
Following a timeout, McNeese scored three straight points to get within 14-10 and stayed within four points until the Cowgirls cut the lead to 19-17 on a Lippert service ace and then again at 24-22 on a Kendall Glueck kill and a Clare Mills service ace, but a block assist gave UNO the second set win.  
 
UNO opened the final set by scoring the first three points on McNeese miscues. A kill by Alexis Lambert put McNeese on the board but a 5-0 run gave UNO a 17-11 lead and then another 4-0 run put the Privateers up 24-15 before a kill by Holly Sh'Diamond gave UNO the set and overall match win.
 
McNeese will return to action this Saturday when they will travel to Natchitoches to face Northwestern State in an 11 a.m. match.