All-tournament team listed at bottom of article.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of New Orleans claimed the Memphis Tiger Invitational on Saturday by defeating UAB 3-0 (23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-23) and Memphis 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19) to complete an undefeated weekend.
The tournament win was the second on the season for UNO (7-5), who claimed the Radisson New Orleans Airport Privateer Invitational earlier this month. This is the third time the team has accomplished the feat in school history, joining the 1995 and 2006 squads.
In the day's opening match against UAB (7-6), Maria Szivos notched her first double-double of the season with career-highs in kills (16) and digs (13) as UNO (7-5) won for just the the fourth time in 26 matches under head coach Jozsef Forman when dropping the first set.
Edina Dobi tallied 12 kills a Privateer attack that hit .213 for the match. Hajnalka Molnar had 24 assists while Cassidy Asebroek distributed 20.
Defensively, UNO had 13 blocks, one shy of their season-high with Kaley Hubbard's nine blocks representing the most by a Privateer since Hillary Carr had nine against Louisiana-Lafayette on Oct. 4, 2006. Nicky Valenti rounded out the defensive accolades in the match with 24 digs, allowing the junior to reach 1,200 for her career and passing Christy Levy to move into fifth all-time in school history.
Sam Serley was the top hitter for UAB with 13 kills and just two attacks. Alison Woods had 42 assists while Jordan McDonald topped the squad with 12 digs.
In the opening frame, the Privateers led early at 8-5, before the Blazers turned the tide in large part due to strong serving. UAB had three aces to just one by UNO in the set as the Blazers broke open a tie at 21 with a 4-2 run to close the scoring 25-23.
Dobi had five of the Privateers' 16 kills in the second set as UNO turned an 8-8 tie into a 20-14 advantage quickly before running away with the set's final five points in a 25-15 victory.
UAB had the momentum coming out of the break, scoring 11 of 14 points to take a commanding a 11-3 lead. On Valenti's serve, the Privateers made their way back into contention with eight straight points to knot the score at 11.
The two squads traded six more ties from that point forward in the frame. Tied at 23, a Szivos kill pushed UNO to set point with an attrack error by the Blazers giving the 2-1 lead to the Privateers.
With no intentions of going easy as the fourth set got underway, UAB capitalized on early UNO struggles to take a 16-10 lead.
The Privateers mounted a comeback to get within three at 23-20. Attempting to avoid a fifth set, UNO scored five straight points as Vesna Jelic took serve with Anett Farkas and Szivos combining for a block to secure the victory.
Two hours after the completion of the previous match, the Privateers received a career-high eight kills from Heather Ford and a matching eight from Dobi to lead the UNO offense against Memphis (2-11).
Molnar paced the offense with 18 assists with Asebroek adding 14 of her own. Valenti totaled a team-high eight digs with the squad blocking eight Tigers' attacks led by Ford's six.
Altrese Hawkins was the top hitter on either squad with 11 kills for Memphis with Christine Bach's 16 assists and 11 digs topping both categories as the Tigers fell for the third time this weekend.
Leading 5-4 in the first set, the Privateers took advantage of three consecutive Tiger errors to build a four-point advantage at 8-4. UNO would not let Memphis close the gap, hitting .250 in the frame with Jelic leading the way with four kills en route to a 25-18 victory.
As was the case in the previous set, an early run by the Privateers put the second frame in the team's favor for the remainder of the set.
Using a 4-0 run to break a 7-7 deadlock, UNO was able to gain a lead that would shrink to one point twice, before Ford teamed with Dobi for two blocks down the stretch to close out the frame 25-21.
The Privateers never trailed in the third stanza, going on an 8-2 run to start the set. The Tigers reached within two at 11-9, but they would be greeted by another run, this time an 8-2 stretch that put UNO in the driver's seat heading to the finish line.
Sun Belt Conference play begins Thursday for the Privateers, who will start a four-match homestand with Arkansas State on Thursday at 7 p.m. before welcoming UALR to the Human Performance Center on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Tiger Invitational All-Tournament Team
MOP: Maria Szivos, New Orleans
Vesna Jelic, New Orleans
Nicky Valenti, New Orleans
Alexis Bauer, Samford
Sheridan Stanghor, Samford
Sam Serley, UAB
Paige Gantar, UALR
Altrese Hawkins, Memphis
