Box Score NEW ORLEANS - The University of New Orleans volleyball team will finish
off their 2009 campaign against New Mexico at the Human Performance
Center on Friday at 7 p.m.
The match, which will be streamed exclusively on UNO Vision, doubles as 'Senior Day' for a UNO (20-12) team that has surpassed the 20-win plateau for the second year in a row under head coach
Jozsef Forman. As part of 'Senior Day' festivities, the team will honor
Kimberly Watson,
Heather Ford,
Kaley Hubbard and
Lindsey Loyd.
Though the match holds little significance for a Privateer squad, who is not under consideration for an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament, the match does feature several UNO student-athletes who will be chasing after milestones against UNM (19-9).
Maria Szivos and Loyd will partner one last time to lead the Privateer attack.
Szivos paces the team with a 3.35 kill per set average while Loyd enters the match with 1,397 career kills, just one shy of Jessica Perdue for fourth all-time in school history. With three more kills, Loyd would become just the fourth player in school history to join the exclusive 1,400 kill club.
Libero
Nicky Valenti could also factor into the milestone chase. The River Ridge, La. native has 575 digs on the season, the third-best single-season effort in school history.
Though
Jayne Duncan's top two marks of 640 in 2004 and 618 in 2006 are out of reach, Valenti needs just 25 digs to reach 600 for the season and with 1,578 career digs, needs just 22 to join Duncan as the lone Privateers in the UNO record book to surpass 1,600 career digs.
Unlike their hosts, the Lobos still have a chance at receiving an NCAA at-large berth. Thr Privateers could conceivably end those chances with a victory over a UNM squad that enters the week with an RPI of 41 that places the school on the bubble.
A balanced offense, five different players average over two kills a set for the Lobos. Taylor Hadfield and Rose Morris rank No. 1 and No. 2 for the squad with 2.73 and 2.53 kills per set, respectively.
Jade Michaelsen, who passed the 3,000 career assist plateau in the loss to the Horned Frogs last week, averages a team-best 10.37 assist per frame with Allison Buck posting 4.01 digs from the back row.
Following the match, Forman and his team will began preparations for the 2010 campaign. Currently, the team is projected to return 10 letterwinners amongst which includes four starters.
