HOUSTON – The University of New Orleans volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday, falling 3-2 (25-27, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-13) to Texas Southern before bouncing back in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-16) sweep of Mississippi Valley State.
In the opener, UNO (1-2) jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the host TSU (1-3) before getting reeled back in.
Laila Hansen had 22 kills to lead the Privateers, who were aided offensively by
Marti Richmiller and
Brionne Smith with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Ryan Hamilton dished out 35 assists while
Lauren Levy set a career-high with 19 digs. Hamilton, Hansen and Richmiller all notched double-doubles by contributing double-figure digs in the match.
The Tigers received 11 kills apiece from Mona Reed and Robyn Shannon. TSU stepped up its game defensively, blocking 16 UNO attack attempts in the match and failing to allow the Privateers to produce a hitting percentage over .175 for the final three sets. UNO hit .240 and .229 in the first two frames.
Head coach Kim Young-Buford was able to rally the troops despite the very quick turnaround heading into a match against MVSU (0-2). With little time to shake off the previous result against the Tigers, the Privateers came out swinging in the nightcap.
UNO hit .235 in the first set and followed with a .233 and .484 hitting clip in the next two sets. Hansen, Smith and
Taylor Berry all had 12 kills apiece as the Privateers snapped a 20-match skid dating back to a 3-0 win over Southern (N.O.) on Sept. 14, 2011.
Elena Villar led the way defensively for UNO with 13 digs while Hansen netted her second double-double of the day by adding 11 digs to her tally. Hamilton dished out 19 assists while Levy had nine assists to go along with her 10 digs.
The Devilettes hit .124 for the match and received eight kills from Taylor Delaire. MVSU had previously dropped a four-set match against Prairie View A&M, the fourth team in the tournament.
UNO is scheduled to close out the tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. against PVAMU, who will also play TSU during Saturday's slate of matches.
