NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans handed Western Kentucky
their first conference loss with a 3-2 (31-29, 30-27,21-30,24-30,15-12)
win on Saturday night, giving the Privateers their first win over the
Lady Toppers since the 2000 Sun Belt Conference tournament.
UNO (12-11, 6-4 SBC) was led by Lindsey Boler who tallied 18 kills while Dobrilla Kovacevic and Lindsey Loyd added 12 apiece.
Jaci Bayley had 41 assists to lead the Privateers offense while Nicky Valenti, who leads the conference in digs during conference play had 16 digs to lead the UNO defensive efforts. Bayley added 14 digs while Kovacevic tacked on 11.
WKU (21-5, 10-1 SBC) received a match high 20 kills from Megan Argabright while Jenna Gideon added 18. Aquila Orr had 15 kills for the Lady Toppers.
Julia Noe set up 61 assists for the WKU attackers while Kelly Hofmeyer had a match-high 24 digs. Noe and Lindsey Gould added 11 digs apiece.
In the fifth game, the Privateers jumped out to a six-point lead at 12-6 before the Lady Toppers scored five of the next six points to pull within two. UNO closed out the match scoring on a Boler kill.
WKU hit strong in the third and fourth games with .250 and .302 hitting percentages, respectively to knot the Lady Toppers and Privateers up at two games apiece heading into the decisive fifth game.
The Privateers trailed most of the second game falling behind the Lady Toppers by as many as four points before scoring five of the last seven points to take a 2-0 lead into the break. Loyd had six kills to lead UNO in the second game while Boler added five.
In a game that saw 13 lead changes, UNO was outhit .242 to .225, yet still managed to take the opening frame behind six kills from Boler and four from Loyd.
UNO continues action in the Sun Belt on Monday at 7 p.m when they take on Middle Tennessee at the Human Performance Center.
