NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans picked up their third
consecutive volleyball victory in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 26-24) win over
Troy on Sunday afternoon at the Human Performance Center.
For UNO, who improved to 11-5 overall and 4-2 in Sun Belt play, the win represented the first home sweep of a conference weekend since Nov. 2-5, 2006 when the Privateers picked up wins over SBC West rivals North Texas and Denver.
Leading the way for UNO was
Dobrilla Kovacevic with a double-double performance of 14 kills and 12 digs.
Lindsey Loyd followed with 13 kills while
Maria Szivos tacked on seven.
Assisting the Privateer offense on way to a .286 hitting percentage in the match was
Jaci Bayley with 27 assists while
Cassidy Asebroek added another 10. Defensively,
Nicky Valenti matched Kovacevic with a match-high 12 digs.
Troy (11-12, 2-6 SBC) had their two-match winning streak snapped after having already claimed wins on the weekend against the two other Pelican State teams in the conference, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe.
The Trojans were led by Meghan Gilroy with 12 kills. Megan Henderson had 21 assists for Troy while on the defensive end, Laura Mackley had eight digs.
In the opening set, UNO broke open a 10-10 tie scoring 6 of 7 points to take their largest lead of the set to that point at 16-11. UNO extended the lead to seven at 21-14 after a run that saw UNO score 5 of 6 points forcing Troy to call a timeout.
The Trojans scored two straight points after the timeout to pull within five of the Privateers before the home squad closed out the frame on a Szivos kill to round out a set in which they hit .407 on the attack.
The second frame found UNO in an unfamiliar spot as they trailed Troy 9-8 and later as much as two at 13-11 and again at 19-17. On the heels of back-to-back kills by Loyd, the Privateers took back the lead 20-19 and completed a 4-0 run on a Trojan setting error.
UNO would go into the break with a two sets to none lead when Bayley re-entered the game and sparked a late run as the Privateers reeled off 6 of 9 points down the stretch after the senior setter got in to the match.
Needing just one more set to win, UNO found themselves trailing 15-12 early in the set. A 4-0 run by the Privateers swung the momentum the other way before two consecutive blocks for the Trojans followed by a UNO error negated the run, tying the score at 17.
The Privateers bounced back with three consecutive scores to take a 20-17 lead that they would not relinquish until a tie at 22 all. Ties at 23 and 24 followed before kills by Kovacevic and Loyd ended the match in extra points, 26-24.
UNO will be back in action as they contest their final non-conference match of the season at crosstown rival Tulane on Tues, Oct. 14 at Fogelman Arena. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m with live video and stats available on the Tulane web site.
