DENTON, Texas - The University of New Orleans volleyball team secured a
spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 3-1 (30-28, 28-30,
30-23, 30-25) win over North Texas on Sunday afternoon.
UNO (15-13, 9-6) was led by
Lindsey Loyd and
Dobrilla Kovacevic, who had 21 and 18 kills, respectively.
Kaley Hubbard tallied a career-high 12 kills as the Privateers hit .231 for the match while
Jaci Bayley matched a season-high with 58 assists.
On the defensive end, libero
Nicky Valenti had 25 digs to pace the Privateers. Kovacevic and
Lauren Loeffelholz added 15 and 12 digs, respectively.
UNT (12-19, 8-9) was led by Katy Prokof who had 13 kills. Rachel Raley and Brooke Engel had 12 kills apiece while Amy Huddleston added 11 in the Mean Green's final home match.
Heather Maddox set up 52 UNT points while Jessica Hulsebosch had 27 digs for the Mean Green.
In the final game, the Privateers trailed until taking their first lead at 11-10. UNO would not look back scoring 13 of the next 17 points to put the game out of reach of the Mean Green, to close the match.
With the match knotted up at one game apiece, the Privateers offense stepped up their attack in the pivotal third game, hitting .351 for the frame.
The Mean Green had a 29-21 lead in the second game before
Jozsef Forman's held off six game points on Valenti's serve before UNT losed the game on a Prokof kill.
In the opening frame, the Privateers trailed 27-26 before taking four of the final five points of the game.
The Privateers return to action on Thursday with a 7 p.m tilt against UALR at the Human Performance Center.
