JONESBORO, Ark. - For the first time in school history, the
University of New Orleans won both ends of a home-and-home with
Arkansas State, snapping the Red Wolves six-match win streak at home
with a 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-11) victory on Saturday
afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Maria Szivos
led UNO (14-6, 7-1 Sun Belt) for the second straight night in the kills
department, pounding down 19. The effort allowed the Privateers to stop
a string of 12 years in which they failed to sweep their rivals from
the Natural State.
Lindsey Loyd and Vesna Jelic joined Szivos in double-figures with 15 and 10 kills, respectively.
Hajnalka Molnar
distributed 48 assists for the Privateers, topping the 45 assist
plateau for the second straight match after reaching the mark just once this season.
Nicky Valenti
was one of three players to establish career-highs in digs, tallying
31. Valenti, who moved into second place in school history on the
career digs list on Friday against UALR had entered the match with a
career-best 30 digs against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 30, 2007.
Szivos and Vesna Jelic
joined the libero in the double-figure dig club, totaling 18 and 16,
respectively. Szivos and Jelic had previously reached their career-high
in the same match in a Sept. 9 victory over UAB with 13 and 12 digs,
respectively.
ASU (15-8, 5-4 SBC) received 14 kills from
Brittany Hoag in defeat. Charlyn Ursell had 13 kills for the Red Wolves
while Cayla Felder totaled 12.
Lauren Bennett led ASU with 45 assists with Heather Bowman equaling Valenti for match-high dig honors with 31.
In
the opening frame, the Privateers broke open a deadlock at 10 to grab
the first substantial lead of the set at 15-11. ASU closed the gap,
getting within one at 15-14 on an Erin Neely service ace with UNO
scoring 10 of 16 points down the stretch to claim the opening set.
The
Privateers looked to have the edge, scoring 4 of 5 points to open the
scoring in the second set. The Red Wolves answered with a 4-1 run of
their own to knot the score and would take the lead in the stanza for
good at 10-9.
With UNO within reach, ASU took advantage of two
consecutive blocks on Szivos attack attempts to pull away, holding on
to a 25-21 win before the break.
It was the Red Wolves' turn to
lose sight of an early advantage in the third set. ASU scored 3 of 4 at
the onset of the frame before ties became the theme of the stanza.
After
a tie at 10, the two teams fought through nine ties with the Privateers
emerging from a knotted score at 21 en route to a 25-21 third set
victory.
With a chance to take the match in the fourth set, UNO
led as late as 17-16. The Red Wolves scored three straight points, two
courtesy of Privateer errors, to grab the frame and force a fifth set.
The
match looked as if it may end in the Red Wolves' favor as the host won
three straight points to open the fifth frame. UNO bounced back however
to knot the score at four points apiece.
ASU went up once more
at 9-7 on consecutive Privateer errors and again at 11-10. With their
backs against the wall, the Privateers stood up to the challenge and
with some help from Red Wolves attack errors, won five straight points
to close out the match.
The Privateers will return home for a 7 p.m. match on Tuesday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
