DENTON, Texas - What was a near certainty just three weeks ago finally
come to fruition on Saturday afternoon as the University of New Orleans
earned an invitation to the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a
3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-14, 25-20) victory over North Texas on Saturday
afternoon.
Lindsey Loyd had 21 kills with just a single error as UNO (16-11, 9-6 SBC) hit .267 for the match.
Maria Szivos bounced back from consecutive outings where she struggled offensively to hit down 15 kills with just two errors.
Both Loyd and Szivos earned double-doubles on the night with the duo combining for 23 digs over four sets.
Cassidy Asebroek distributed 45 assists for the Privateers with
Nicky Valenti topping the team in digs with 14.
Amy Huddleston matched Loyd with 21 kills for a NT (11-18, 7-7 SBC) that is fighting for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament. Huddleston was the lone player in double figure kills for a Mean Green team that hit .146 for the match.
Kayla Saey passed 42 balls into kills with Jessica Green garnering match-high digs with 15. NT totaled just three blocks against the Privateer attack.
In the opening set, UNO was never truly threatened. The squad started out with 3-0 lead on Asebroek's serve and with a 10-9 lead, scored 9 of 11 points to build up an advantage that NT could not recover from.
The tables were turned in the second set as the Mean Green scored 5 of 6 points to open the frame. The Privateers rallied to tie the score at nine points after a 6-2 rally that featured six NT errors.
UNO would fall behind again at 22-17 after a 5-0 Mean Green run, only to rally to knot the score at 23. The teams would knot up again at 24 before a Brittani Youman kill coupled with an Asebroek ball-handling error tied the set score at one entering the break.
Head coach
Jozsef Forman got his squad focused during the intermission and with the Privateers narrowly ahead, watched his team score 17 of 23 points to take a third set victory.
The fourth stanza was slightly different as the Mean Green controlled the frame until a 17-15 advantage. At that point, a
Vesna Jelic ace and a
Kaley Hubbard kill were part of a 4-0 run that put the Privateers ahead until the last point.
UNO will play their conference home finale on Tuesday at the Human Performance Center, starting at 7 p.m. against ULM. The match will be available via UNO Vision, the exclusive online home for Privateer athletics.
