HOUSTON - The University of New Orleans rallied from a set down to
defeat Houston 3-1 (16-25, 27-25, 25-21, 25-15) in their season opening
match at the Flo Hyman Invitational on Friday afternoon.
Entering the match with a 2-18 mark when dropping the first set under head coach Jozsef Forman, UNO (1-0) was able to shake off poor hitting early in the match to hit .217 for the match.
Lindsey Loyd's
team-high 11 kills was more than the eight needed to make the senior
outside hitter the 11th player in school history to reach the 1,000
kill mark. Sophomore Maria Szivos added nine kills and was one of three players for the Privateers to have multiple services aces.
Cassidy Asebroek led the passing game for UNO with 22 assists while Hajnalka Molnar added another 11 in her collegiate debut. Defensively, Nicky Valenti topped the squad with 12 digs with Vesna Jelic and Asebroek totaling 11 and nine, respectively.
UH (0-1) had two hitters top double-digits in kills with Amanda Carson and Kinsey Cave reaching 15 and 14, respectively. Tara Roenicke led setters from both teams with 40 assists with Carson rounding out a double-double with a match-high 17 digs.
Taking
control of the first set from the opening serve, UH scored the first
four points before eventually expanding their lead to 10 at 16-6. The
Cougars would stay in the driver's seat through the end of set with
some assistance from the Privateers, who totaled five service errors in
the frame.
Errors came into play once more in the second set, this time with the tables turned.
Up
14-10, UH proceeded to have five errors during a 7-0 run by the
Privateers that swung the momentum to the visiting team. Consecutive
Jelic aces gave UNO their largest lead of the frame at 21-16.
The
Cougars rallied back into the lead, scoring eight of the next 10 points
to get within one of closing out the set. Two Szivos kills prevented UH
from taking the set with the Privateers tallying the final three points
to enter the break tied at one.
In the third set, neither team
gained much of an advantage until UNO broke open a 19-19 tie. Loyd had
two kills down the stretch for the Privateers, who hit .400 for the
frame and scored six of the set's final eight points to go up 2-1.
The
match continued in UNO's favor in the fourth set. After a tie at two,
the Privateers never let the Cougars back into contention, hitting .450
for the frame while serving three aces and stuffing three UH attacks.
The
Privateers will continue play on Saturday against Indiana at 11:30 a.m.
followed by a match against Baylor at 5:30 p.m. Live audio and
statistics for each match will be available through links on
UNOPrivateers.com.
