NEW ORLEANS - Coming back home after two weeks on the road to open up conference, the University of New Orleans volleyball team made short work of South Alabama with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-21) win on Thursday night at the Human Performance Center.
UNO (10-5, 3-2 SBC) was led by Dobrilla Kovacevic who picked up her 1000th career kill with her 13th and final kill of the match. Kovacevic became the 11th player in school history to achieve the feat.
Defensively, Nicky Valenti celebrated her birthday a day early with a team-high 17 digs for the Privateers.
USA (7-7, 1-5 SBC) was led in defeat by Hristina Markova with five kills. Maria Kashavelova had 15 assists while Samia Salomao matched Valenti with 17 digs as the Jaguars hit .049 for the match.
The Privateers after an early 3-3 tie jumped out to a four point lead at 8-4 on the heels of a 5-1 run. The Jaguars clawed back into it scoring 6 of 8 points to knot the score at 10 after several UNO miscues.
On the back of Szivos who had six kills in the frame on just seven attacks, UNO extended the lead to six at 20-14 and 23-17 on way before a Loyd kill closed the set in favor of UNO at 25-18.
UNO jumped out to a 4-0 lead before USA called a timeout. The Jaguars capitalized on the timeout, pulling within one at 6-5 before the Privateers took off, scoring 5 of 6 points to get back in the driver's seat.
The Privateers would score the final six points of the set as Kaley Hubbard served out the frame highlighted by a service ace on set point as UNO took a 25-14 victory and a 2-0 lead into the break.
Looking to hold off the Privateers from a sweep, the Jaguars won three straight points to lead off the third set. UNO bounced back scoring 8 of 9 points to take an 8-4 lead. The Privateers never lost control of the lead, letting USA within two at 20-18 before Kovacevic hammered down her 1000th career kill.
UNO would eventually close out the match as Loyd put down one last kill as the Privateers took the closing set 25-21.
UNO will continue their weekend at home with a 12 p.m match against Troy on Sunday at the Human Performance Center. The match between the Privateers and Trojans will be streamed online exclusively at UNOPrivateers.com
