ULM volleyball traveled to the University of New Orleans for the New Orleans Invitational and won two of three games at the tournament.

The two wins also marked the first two wins for head coach Charlie Olson.

“Today marked a new beginning and gave us an opportunity to leave a mark on the ULM volleyball program,” Olson said.

The Warhawks opened the invitational against The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and swept the Golden Lions, 3-0.

ULM won each set by at least three points, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-19. The Warhawks were led by sophomore Kate Blasingame, who finished with 12 kills and senior Mikaela Worley, who finished with seven kills.

Worley also was successful in keeping the ball in play 14 times.

“I asked the team for a few things before the matches started: to compete, to stay positive and to earn it. Today, they earned it,” Olson said.

The second game of the day was against UNO. The Warhawks beat the home team in four sets, 3-1. This marked the first time in 10 matches that ULM beat the Privateers. The streak had been ongoing since 2006.

Both Worley and Blasingame dominated again and added 11 more kills to their totals.

After two successful matches, the Warhawks would drop the final against North Dakota, 1-3.

“Overall, it was a really good weekend for us,” Olson said. “The team is starting to create their identity and a variety of players are stepping up to take on responsibility.”

The Warhawks won the first set 25-20 and were tied 12-12 in the second set before North Dakota went on a 13-3 run to win the second set, 25-15.

The third set would follow suit with the second seeing the Warhawks and dropping it, 25-17. North Dakota would finish the sweep to win the match, 25-22.

“This isn’t a sprint and we aren’t looking to peak early,” Olson said. “The team has a lot of positives in our corner and we will use them to our full advantage moving forward.”

Blasingame would have a third dominate game with a game high 21 kills which brought her weekend total to 44 kills.

Despite the loss, the Warhawks would finish as tournament champions.

The Warhawks will look to continue their winning ways next week with a game on Monday at Grambling State, before traveling to Lamar University hosted Katrinka Crawford Invitational in Beaumont, Texas.