NEW ORLEANS - Florida International won their 15th straight match and
extended their Sun Belt winning streak to 13 with a 3-2 (25-18, 22-25,
25-16, 18-25, 15-7) victory over the University of New Orleans on
Friday night at the Human Performance Center.
Reigning SBC Player of the Year Yarimar Rosa led four players in double-figures for FIU (22-2, 12-0 SBC) with 21 kills. Jovana Bjelica had 16 kills with Andrea Lakovic and Olga Vergun tallying 10 apiece.
Natalia Valentin had a match-high 54 assists while also leading the Golden Panthers in digs with 17.
The loss was the fourth straight for UNO (14-10, 7-5 SBC), equaling the longest losing streak under head coach
Jozsef Forman, a four-match skid in Sept. 2007. A glimpse of the future, four freshmen were regularly on the floor for the Privateers against the SBC leader.
Maria Szivos had a match-high 22 kills with
Lindsey Loyd's 13 kills breaking a tie with former teammate
Dobrilla Kovacevic at 1,266 kills, allowing her to sit in fifth place in school history in career kills.
Kaley Hubbard rounded out the double-figure attack with 10 kills.
Freshman
Hajnalka Molnar tallied 50 assists for UNO with
Nicky Valenti leading all players on the floor with 22 digs.
The Privateers started the match by taking the first two points and 8 of 12 to grab the early advantage. FIU stormed back to knot the score at nine and would take their first lead of the set 12-11.
After several ties, a Loyd kill put UNO back on top for the final time during the frame at 17-16. The Golden Panthers scored the next six points to take a five-point lead at 22-17 with Rosa tallying eight kills in the set to lift her squad to a 25-22 victory.
In the second set, the Privateers would jump out to a 4-1 lead and not look back all the way into intermission, claiming a 25-22 win. Szivos had six kills in the frame with UNO holding FIU to a .122 hitting percentage after the visitors hit .389 in the opening stanza.
It would take six ties before the Golden Panthers emerged from a 6-6 deadlock to take a 13-7 lead. The FIU lead continued to grow with a red card on Forman pushing their advantage to 17-9.
The Golden Panthers would trade points with UNO through the end of the set before emerging a 25-16 winner. FIU hit .441 in the stanza with 18 kills and just three errors.
A different Privateer team emerged to start the fourth set. UNO scored 5 of 6 points to open the stanza and would stake to a 13-7 lead which would force Golden Panther head coach Danijela Tomic to call her second and final timeout of the frame.
A Molnar service ace followed by a Loyd kill gave the Privateers their largest lead of the set at 20-13. The lead would be eclipsed when a FIU attack error put UNO up by eight at 24-16, two plays before closing out the set 25-18.
In the fifth set, the Golden Panthers jumped out to a 4-1 advantage forcing the Privateers to give chase. FIU would not give the home team that opportunity gaining an edge as large as eight points on way to shutting the door on the host squad by a score of 15-7.
UNO will return to the HPC floor on Saturday at 5 p.m. when they battle Florida Atlantic. Fans are encouraged to dress in costume for a special Halloween contest at the intermission of the match.
