AUBURN, Ala.
- The University of New Orleans volleyball team closed out their weekend trip
with an undefeated record and a tournament title after picking up wins over
Samford and Auburn
during the course of the day on Saturday.
The tournament championship for the Privateers was the first
for UNO since winning three matches at a tournament in 2006 hosted by Stetson.
Lindsey Loyd was named tournament MVP with Jaci Bayley and Dobrilla Kovacevic earning placement on the all-tournament team.
UNO (3-0) opened Saturday's play with a 3-1 (25-22, 23-25,
25-18, 25-12) win over Samford (1-1) and later emerged 3-0 (25-16, 25-20,
25-15) winners over Auburn (0-3).
In the victory over Samford, Loyd had a game-high 16 kills
while Kovacevic added her second-straight double-double with 15 kills
and 10 digs.
Bayley had 38 assists for the Privateer offense that
hit .389 for the match. On the defensive end, libero Nicky Valenti led all
players with 16 digs while Kovacevic had four solo blocks.
Ashley Adams paced the Bulldogs with 14 kills in the match
while leading defensive efforts for her team with 10 digs. Hillary Fountain had
37 assists in the match for Samford, who defeated Auburn on Friday night.
Against Samford, the Privateers led for a majority of the
first set before following behind 21-20. Two kills by Bayley pushed UNO over
the top as they scored 5 of 6 points down the stretch for the win.
Both teams were scoring at will in the second set as the
Bulldogs outhit the Privateers by a .536 to .500 margin, doing just enough to
give Samford a second set win.
UNO would never look back again offensively, defeating
Samford in the next two sets highlighted by a .567 hitting percentage to key a
25-12 fourth set victory to close out the match.
The Privateers took to the court three hours later, sending
Auburn to their third consecutive loss, while defeating an SEC
school for the first time since 2002 when UNO defeated Mississippi State.
Once more, the Privateer offense was strong hitting to the
tune of a .423 attack percentage as Loyd and Kovacevic had 17 and 10 kills,
respectively.
Bayley led UNO with 18 assists while Cassidy Asebroek had
17. Valenti continued her double-digit streak in digs with 11.
Jessica Glover paced the Tigers with 11 kills. Christina Solverson and Sara Shanks had 13
and 10 assists, respectively.
Loyd got the Privateers off to a strong start with two kills
and Maria Szivos tacked on a block to open the contest with a 3-0 lead. Loyd
would keep her hot streak going totaling six kills in the opening set as UNO
took a 25-16 set victory.
In the second set, UNO broke open a 5-4 game pushing their
lead to as many as six points before cruising to a 25-20 victory. With a
tournament title in sight in the third set, the Privateers poured on the
offense with 10 kills and just four hours while tallying five aces.
The Privateers will be off til next weekend when they
compete in the SMU Radisson Invitational where they will open with Stephen F.
Austin and SMU on Sept. 5 before facing Montana
the following day.
