MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The University of New Orleans snapped Middle
Tennessee's 21-match home win streakwhen they defeated their Sun Belt
rivals 3-2 (21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-11) on Sunday afternoon.
In the process of winning, UNO (14-8, 7-4 SBC) also brought to an end a nine-match win streak for the Blue Raiders while winning a five-set match for the first time in four attempts on the season.
The Privateers were led by three players in double-figure kills as
Dobrilla Kovacevic led the way with 20 kills.
Lindsey Loyd and Maria Szvios added 19 and 11 kills, respectively.
Setting the offense was
Cassidy Asebroek with 33 assists while
Jaci Bayley tacked on another 12.
Nicky Valenti led UNO with 10 digs.
MT (19-4, 9-2 SBC), which had been receiving votes in the AVCA national top 25 poll and ranked in the top 15 of the most recent RPI release by the NCAA was led by Ashley Asberry who had 14 kills. Izabela Kozon added a double-double performance with 11 kills and 10 digs.
Leslie Clark had a match-high 40 assists while Ashley Waugh notched a mtch-high 11 digs. MT had a field day at the net, stopping 14 Privateer attacks with Asberry having a hand in 12 of the 14 blocks.
As UNO staked to a lead in the opening frame, service errors haunted the team and kept them from pulling away from MT. During the first rotation around, 5 of 6 Privateers had errors in serving including three who had errant serves on their first attempt.
With UNO holding a 10-8 lead, the Blue Raiders went on a scoring binge taking 6 of 7 points to force head coach
Jozsef Forman to call a timeout. MT would tack on three additional points after the break in the action to extend their lead to 17-11.
Before MT took their final point in their run, Forman replaced Asebroek with Bayley at the setter position. The substitution had instant results as UNO scored 7 of 10 points to close the gap down to one points at 19-18.
The Blue Raiders would then take back control of the action, scoring 5 of 7 points down the stretch to take the opening frame 25-21. Asberry had six kills in six attempts for MT, who hit .222 in the stanza compared to .069 for the Privateers.
UNO came out in the second frame ready to bounce back, scoring four straight points to open the set. The Blue Raiders would get right back into the set, scoring 5 of 6 to tie it up at five points apiece.
After a tie at seven, MT would take the lead after scoring two straight points. The Privateers would tie it up at 11, before MT scored seven straight points during a run which saw Forman call two timeouts.
The 7-0 run by the Blue Raiders, who never let UNO closer than five the rest of the way, was enough to finish out the frame and take a 2-0 advantage into the break after a 25-19 win.
In the third frame, the Privateers broke open a 4-4 tie with four straight points. The UNO advantage extended to six at 12-6 on Kovacevic's servce.
As they had done all match long, MT climbed back in and tied the set at 19. The Privateers quickly took the lead back on an errant serve by the host squad and extended the lead to two points at 22-20 on a Loyd kill.
The teams would trade the next four points forcing the Blue Raiders to call a timeout with UNO once point away from closing the set before another Loyd kill closed it out, 25-22.
The fourth frame as the Privateers fall behind as much as four at 14-10 before the team rallied. Kovacevic opened with a kill and the team scored three times on Szivos serve to knot the scoring at 14.
The Blue Raiders would again take control of the stanza, taking a three-point lead at 20-17. Szivos had back-to-back kills to spur a four-point rally to put UNO on top for the first time since 7-6 with a 21-20 advantage.
MT would have the lead swing in their favor 23-22 before the Privateers took the final three points of the set to take the frame 25-23 and for the second straight match, force a fifth set.
With the winner taking the match, UNO scored 5 of 6 points out of the game to to take a 5-1 lead. The Privateers would never look back and they would close out the match on a Kovacevic kill for a 15-11 victory.
The Privateers will close out their five-match stint away from home with contests against Florida International on Friday followed by Florida Atlanatic on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for 6 p.m Central starts.
