CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In one of the matches of the Southland volleyball season, seventh-seed New Orleans defeated sixth-seed UIW in an incredible five set match in the first round of the Southland Volleyball Championship on Thursday evening at the Dugan Wellness Center.

It was the Privateers' first-ever win at the Southland tournament and it moves them into the second round where they will take on the No. 3 seed McNeese Cowgirls at 6 p.m.

The match was about as even as it could be with UNO finished with 73 kills to 26 errors and hitting .249 as a team, while UIW had 75 kills to 25 errors and hit .251 as a team. The Cardinals had a 13-8 advantage in blocks, but the Privateers made up for it on the defensive end with the 84-77 edge in digs.

Both teams came out firing in the first set, but it was the Cardinals attack with 19 kills in the first set that was the difference maker as they hit .280 to take the 1-0 advantage after a 25-22 edge.

Despite UIW continuing to hit at a high clip in set two, it was New Orleans who overcame ten errors as they finished with a stellar 21 kills while hitting .220 to find a way in set two to even the match, 28-26.

New Orleans carried that offensive momentum into set three as they hit a blistering .361 with 17 kills to move ahead 2-1 after a 25-22 win in set three. However, UIW responded with a 25-20 win in set four to set up the fifth and decisive set.

UIW raced out to a 4-1 lead and maintained that advantage at 9-6 midway through the fifth set. New Orleans then went on the rally of their season, rattling off four straight points. The Cardinals halted the run and eventually moved back ahead 12-11, but the Privateers got kills from Karen Cordero Barr and Courtney Roundtree as three straight points had UNO on the brink of match point at 14-12.

UIW responded with back-to-back points to even it back at 14, but Buse Kocakaya and Ryan Williams called game with the final two points to clinch the match for UNO.

Cordero Barr was incredible, finishing with 25 kills on .293 hitting. Roundtree added 16 kills at a .308 clip, while Kocakaya had 15 kills. Defne Eciroglu added 63 assists to the evening. For UIW, Allison Palmi and Kyla Malone each had 20 kills, while Natalie Kimmel added 31 assists.

Defensively, Eciroglu and Lani Allemn each had 16 digs, while Kocakaya finished with six blocks. For the Cardinals, Mariela Nieto had 22 digs, while Kade Thomas added nine blocks to her evening.