NEW ORLEANS, La – The Huskies came up with a crucial win against New Orleans to extend their winning streak to five matches in Southland Conference volleyball action inside of the Human Performance Center Thursday night.
 
Reigning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week, junior right side Anna Gadway once against helped lead the Huskies (19-7, 10-2 SLC) by earning another double-double with 20 kills and 16 digs. Mikayla Vivens had a double-double of her own, tallying 13 kills and 17 digs. Audrey Pearce added 12 kills while Jada Allen added six. Setter Ellie Wipf set up her teammates with 42 assists and 12 digs. Libero Kaley Feris led the way defensively with 23 digs while Alexia Jones added seven.
 
Atira Jells had 12 kills for the Privateers (1-19, 1-11 SLC) while Sh'Diamond Holly added 11. Defensively, Sheilah Purcell had 28 digs while Trinity Jackson added 11. Tara Goolsby set her teammates up with 30 assists.
 
The Huskies only hit .128 for the match, but were able to hold New Orleans to a .120 percentage. The Huskies out dug the Privateers 83-76 and out aced them 7-4. The Privateers defense held them in the match, out blocking the Huskies 20-6.
 
In the first set, the Huskies and Privateers alternated points back and forth before the Huskies took an 11-8 lead. From there, the Privateers would score four points in a row regaining the lead 12-11. The Huskies showed resilience by winning the next four points, including kills from Gadway and Pierce. New Orleans would answer with a five point run of their own, once again taking the lead, 17-15. The Huskies would win nine of the next 13 points, serving for the set leading 24-21. New Orleans would not back down, rattling off three points in a row to tie the set at 24. The teams would alternate the next two points before back-to-back kills from Pearce and Gadway would win the set for the Huskies 27-25.
 
Defense was the story of the second set for New Orleans who had five blocks en route to a 25-19 win, including kills from Jells and Holly. This was only the third set the Huskies have lost in their last five matches.
 
The Privateers jumped out to a huge lead in the third set, winning eight of the first 11 points, before committing three errors and giving the Huskies life in the set. After New Orleans won three of the next four points, the Huskies would rally from behind to win 15 of the next 20 points to take a 22-16 lead, including four kills from Gadway, three kills from Pearce and two service aces from Wipf. The Privateers showed no quit as they would win seven of the next nine points, trailing the Huskies 24-23. A kill from Vivens on a set from Wipf would close out the set for HBU, 25-23, and give them a 2-1 set advantage.
 
The fourth set was very similar to the first set, with both teams alternating points for the first part of the set, until it was tied 6-6. The Huskies would take a 13-8 lead on two kills from Vivens and several attacking errors on the Privateers. The Huskies would take a 20-16 lead before the Privateerrs battled all the way back to win six of the next eight points to tie things at 22. The Huskies would win the last three points of the match on a kills from Gadway and Vivens before an attacking error on New Orleans would end the match.
 
The Huskies win against the Privateers secured them a top two seed in the Conference Championship which begins November 18^th in Sharp Gym. The Huskies remain in Louisiana to face Nicholls on Saturday, before closing out their regular season on the road against McNeese next Thursday.