Double-doubles from Dunn and Yauch Not Enough Against Abilene Christian

BOX SCORE (PDF)

ABILENE, Texas – The University of New Orleans volleyball team took on Abilene Christian on the road in a Southland Conference match on Thursday evening, dropping a 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 26-24, 25-16) decision.

For the first time this season, two Privateers (3-13, 0-3 Southland Conference) ended the match with double-doubles. Blessing Dunn (Business Management) led the team in both offense and defense with a match-high 15 kills and 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, while Jordan Yauch (Biological Science) posted 13 kills with 11 digs for her third collegiate double-double.

"Everyone on our side started the match very aggressive, and that was our goal," head coach Millicent Van Norden explained. "Abilene Christian is in the top tier of our conference in digs so we knew we would have to hit hard to hopefully not give them room to do what they do well. Playing the pressure situations better and hitting efficient later in the match will be key points for us."

Brianna Vege (Biological Sciences) also finished the match with double-digit kills with 12 while Sarah Thomas (Accounting and Finance) quarterbacked the offense with 43 assists. Lane Hindenburg was the top Privateer from the service live, boasting a career-high six aced.

Defensively, Andrea Nava (Education) posted a career-high 10 digs with Samantha Uline (Exercise Physiology) ended the match with an identical total. Keke Richards (Business Management) posted a season-high five total blocks, half of UNO's total as the team matched a season-best mark with 10.
As a team, the Privateers held the advantage in total kills at 49-43, assists at 45-43 and service at 9-4.

Despite posting more kills than Abilene Christian (3-15, 2-1 Southland Conference), the Privateers fell in a competitive opening set. Abilene Christian used a 5-0 run early in the frame to take its largest lead of the frame at 11-7. UNO brought the separation to within one at 12-13, finally knotting up the score at 16-all. The two sides exchanged the ensuing 10 points before back-to-back tallies from the Wildcats ended the streak and put the hosts ahead 23-21.

The Privateers controlled the second set, holding Abilene Christian to a .000 hitting percentage while leading for the majority of the frame. UNO used an early 4-0 run with two kills from Yauch and a service ace from Nava to create a five-point cushion at 8-3. Abilene Christian clawed into the deficit and brought it to within one at 11-10, but the royal blue and silver responded with eight of the following 10 points to create a seven-point advantage at 19-12 and prevented any more runs from host in the frame.

UNO jumped out to the early lead in the third set, looking to go up 2-1 overall after creating a 19-8 separation. Abilene Christian clawed its way back into the game, starting with a 4-0 rally to bring it to within seven at 19-12 and ending the frame on an 11-2 run.

The host carried the momentum unto the final frame, scoring the opening four points and never trailing in the stanza. UNO managed to knot up the score at 6-all after kills from Vega, Dunn and Yauch highlighted a 4-point rally, but an equal response from ACU recreated the four-point separation and kept prevented UNO from tying up the score again.

"We let loosing set three deflate us and we never mentally recovered," Van Norden concluded. "We are a young team and as we mature we will learn to handle these situations better. It'll be nice to play at home next week."

UNO is back in action on Tuesday, Oct. 4, when they host McNeese State in a Southland Conference match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be the Privateers annual breast cancer awareness match, admission is free.