NEW ORLEANS - For the first time this season, the University of New Orleans volleyball team will get a chance to spend a weekend of matches in the Crescent City, as the Privateers will take on South Alabama Thursday at 7 p.m and follow it up with Troy on Sunday at 12 p.m.
Both matches at the Human Performance Center, will provide UNO (9-5, 2-2 SBC) a chance to build on the momentum from the home crowd as they look to make their push up the Sun Belt Conference West Division standings.
For the Privateers,
Dobrilla Kovacevic, currently ranked third in the conference and 30th in the country with 4.06 kills per frame leads the way. The senior from Belgrade, Serbia enters this weekend just 13 kills shy of becoming the 11th UNO volleyball player to tally 1,000 kills in a career.
Lindsey Loyd joins in on the attack, as she is presently ranked fourth in the conference with 3.88 kills each set and another reason UNO ranks eighth in the nation with 14.41 kills each frame.
Despite not having any of the top 10 hitters percentage-wise in the conference,
Jozsef Forman's squad presently ranks 20th in the nation in the hitting percentage category with a mark of .269, which is good for third amongst teams in the SBC.
Credit for the hitting percentage can go to a pair of setters in
Jaci Bayley and
Cassidy Asebroek, who continue to put the ball where it needs to go for the Privateer attack. The California duo's efforts represent a large part of the 13.16 assists that presently rank UNO 10th in the country in the category.
In conference play, the Privateers have the league's top libero. While ranking second overall, UNO defensive specialist
Nicky Valenti presently ranks at the top of the digs per set category in conference matches with 4.57.
USA (7-6, 1-4 SBC) has navigated tough waters this year as two hurricanes impacted play as Gustav canceled a match against Alcorn State while Ike washed out their originally planned tournament in Prairie View in addition to their fall back plan to play at Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Jaguars, who started SBC play with four straight losses ended their losing skid with a 3-1 win on Monday against Troy. USA has not been one to back down, picking up frames in three of their four losses, including two five set losses to Florida Atlantic and UALR.
Leading the Jaguars is Kristina Markova with 2.61 kills per set, closely followed by Juliana Almeida with 2.58. A pair of hitters, Lindsey Schwartz and Tera Bendlova, both add 2.30 kills per frame. The setter of record for USA is Maria Kashavelova with 9.80 assists each time out.
On the defensive end of the court, the Jaguars feature a pair of blockers averaging more than a block each set as Schwartz and Brittany Blackwelder tally 1.14 and 1.00 blocks, respectively. Digging out the balls for USA is Samia Salomao with 4.12 digs a frame.
Troy (9-11, 0-5 SBC) has lost all five of their conference games thus far and currently enters this weekend's trip to the Pelican State with a six-match losing streak. The last win for the Trojans came on Sept. 20 when they defeated Alabama A&M at a tournament hosted by UAB. All has not been bad for Troy, as they did win a tournament earlier this season hosted by Coastal Carolina.
For the Trojans to end UNO's unblemished 10-0 mark in series history, they will have to find a way to win on the road, where they are 2-6 this year.
The Trojan attack is focused around Meghan Gilroy and Aubre Smith, who average 3.46 and 2.45 kills per set, respectively. Megan Henderson is the leading setter for Troy, putting up 8.91 assists a frame. On the defensive end, four Trojan players average more than two digs a frame, led by Emily Strader with 2.77. Meghan Washlow follows with 2.68 in addition to Henderson and Kerry Heinz at 2.33 and 2.08, respectively.
The Privateers will need to be careful in ball placement as Troy has three players averaging more than .50 blocks a frame including the team-leader Smith with .80.
Both matches will be streamed exclusively on UNOPrivateers.com with the "Voice of the Privateers"
Mike Wagenheim providing the call of the game.
