BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The University of New Orleans rallied from two sets down to defeat Arkansas State 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-11, 17-15) in the quarterfinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Thursday afternoon.
With the victory, the fourth-seeded UNO (20-11) will advance to a Friday semifinal at 5 p.m. against top-seeded Florida International for the second straight year. FIU defeated North Texas earlier on Thursday 3-0.
All-SBC second-team selection
Maria Szivos played one of the best matches of her career, tallying career-highs in kills (24) and digs (21). First-team selection
Lindsey Loyd added 18 kills and 12 digs as the Privateers outhit ASU (22-11) .272 to .209 for the match.
Hajnalka Molnar distributed 43 assists after relieving
Cassidy Asebroek, who contributed 12. Defensively,
Nicky Valenti and
Vesna Jelic joined the two offensive hitters with 19 and 12 digs, respectively.
The Red Wolves were led by Brittany Hoag's 16 kills. Cayla Felder and Charlyn Ursell totaled 15 kills apiece.
Laura Bennett took match-high assist honors with 51 with SBC Defensive Player of the Year Heather Bowman edging out Szivos in digs with 22.
In the first two sets, the Privateers led late in the frame, only to have ASU rally back to claim the victory.
In the opening set, UNO held a three-point advantage at 18-15, only to watch the Red Wolves score four straight and 10 of 15 points to take the opening set 25-23.
Leading 20-15 in the second frame, the lead seemed safe for the Privateers who had plenty of wiggle room. The five-point advantage quickly evaporated however, as ASU scored 7 of 9 to knot the score at 22 before scoring the final three points of the frame to enter the break with a 2-0 edge.
Attempting to reverse their fortune from the previous two sets, UNO looked to get ahead and maintain their sport in the driver's seat as the third set began.
If there was ever any question regarding what time of team would come out of the break, the Privateers put the question to rest. UNO scored 7 of 10 points to open the third frame, pushing their advantage to a high of 11 points before cruising to a 25-16 victory.
The momentum carried over into the fourth set for the Privateers, who went on an 8-2 run to begin the fourth set. UNO never looked back and rolled to a 25-11 victory to force a fifth set.
As they did in the first two sets, the Privateers gained a late lead. A Szivos kill put UNO ahead by three at 11-8 with another Szivos kill giving the Privateers a 13-10 advantage.
The Red Wolves rallied to knot the score at 14, holding off two Privateer match points. The teams would tie at 15 on an Ursell kill before Loyd connected on back-to-back kills to end the match with a 17-15 verdict in the fifth set.
The UNO-FIU semifinal match will be available on SBC Extra, located at the SBC web site at http://www.sunbeltsports.org. The Privateers have already played the Golden Panthers once this year, falling in five sets on Oct. 30 at the Human Performance Center.
