Box Score BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Sun Belt regular season champion Florida
International dispatched the University of New Orleans 3-0 (25-16,
25-17, 25-16) on Friday night in the semifinals of the SBC Volleyball
Championships.
FIU
(30-2) entered the match with the nation's fourth-longest win streak at
22 matches and has now reached 30 wins on the season after winning
their 23rd consecutive match.
The offensive performance of SBC Player of the Year Yarimar Rosa and Andrea Lakovic were too much to overcome for UNO (20-12).
After
two sets, the pair had combined for 18 kills and just two errors on 27
attacks. By the end of the match, Rosa had 14 kills with just two
errors with Lakovic tallying 11 kills and just a single error.
The Privateers were led by
Maria Szivos, who totaled 11 kills.
Lindsey Loyd added nine kills with
Hajnalka Molnar passing around 24 assists.
In the opening set, FIU took their first substantial lead of the match at 9-6 forcing head coach
Jozsef Forman
to call a timeout. Following the break in the action, UNO scored 3 of 4
to get within one at 10-9 before the Golden Panthers responded with
five straight points to take a commanding 15-9 advantage.
FIU's
offense was crisp, hitting at a .375 clip for the stanza. Rosa had five
kills on eight attacks with Lakovic connecting on all four efforts on
way to a 25-16 victory.
UNO jumped ahead early in the second
set, staking to a 6-4 edge. The momentum would quickly swing in the
favor of the Golden Panthers, who scored six straight points to hop in
the driver's seat with a 10-6 lead.
FIU remained ahead for the
rest of the stanza, taking a 2-0 lead into the break after claiming the
second set by a score of 25-17.
There would be no bouncing back
from a 2-0 deficit for the Privateers on this day as the Golden
Panthers scored four straight to begin the third set. UNO trimmed the
lead to two at 8-6, but that would be as close as they would get for
the remainder of the match with FIU closing out the third set 25-16.
The
Golden Panthers advance to the conference title game on Saturday
afternoon, where they will face the winner of the semifinal between
Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky. The Privateers will return home
to wrap up their season on Friday, Nov. 28 for a 7 p.m. contest against
New Mexico, which will double as 'Senior Day'.
Prior to the match the team will honor Loyd,
Kimberly Watson,
Kaley Hubbard and
Heather Ford.
Though juniors athletically, Hubbard and Ford will graduate this year
before proceeding forward in their pursuit of graduate degrees.
