The University of New Orleans women's volleyball team rallied from a two-game deficit to defeat Sun Belt Conference west division rival, Denver, 3-2, (27-30, 30-27, 20-30, 30-26, 15-10) at Lakefront Arena. The Privateers (8-16/3-9 Sun Belt) set several team and individual records in earning its first win in six chances over Denver (10-14/5-7). New Orleans was paced by Alison Howard's school record and career-high 76 assists. Five Privateers had double-digit kills, two had double-doubles and the team had its first pair with over 20 kills.
Freshman Jennifer Cruz led the team with a season-best 25 kills (25-6-45/.422) and senior Ann MacMillan had 24 kills (24-5-44/.432). Junior Mary Wanko had 18 kills, junior middle blocker Melissa Caravella had 12 kills and a team-/career-high 22 digs. While senior Cathy Hughes, making a rare start, had a career-best 11 kills.
The Privateers split the first two games with each team taking a 30-27 win into halftime. Denver opened the third game with an 11-4 spurt that put the Privateers in the two game hole. UNO took control late in the fourth game as Wanko served the last four winning points and Cruz added the game winner. In the fifth game, UNO recorded a .500 hitting percentage as the team had 13 kills with only two errors.
Howard tied Ashley Duhon's school record with kills in a five-game match. Duhon recorded the record on September 22, 1989 vs. Sam Houston State. The Privateers set the program record for kills in a match with 93 and the team's 83 assists were the second most in history.
The Privateers return to action on Sunday, November 4th, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. against Sun Belt west division leader New Mexico State. NMSU is in the midst of a three-match winning streak and handed New Orleans a three-game sweep at Las Cruces in late September.
