DALLAS - After a successful
opening weekend for the University of New Orleans volleyball team, head coach Jozsef
Forman's squad heads to Dallas
to compete in the SMU Radisson Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Beginning with a contest against Stephen F. Austin on Friday morning at 11 a.m, the Privateers will play in three matches on the weekend. Contests against host SMU on Friday night at 7:30 p.m and Montana on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m complete the slate for the squad.
UNO (3-0) is led by Lindsey Loyd, Dobrilla Kovacevic and
Jaci Bayley, who were named to the Auburn War Eagle Invitational all-tournament
squad last weekend.
Loyd and Kovacevic are presently ranked second and third in
the Sun Belt in the kill category with their 4.7 and 4.0 kills per set,
respectively.
With a .447 hitting percentage, Loyd ranks fifth in the
conference on the attack followed by Maria Szivos who is hitting .432 and
ranked eighth.
Setting up the UNO offense, which ranks first in the Sun
Belt in hitting percentage (.345) and kills (14.7 per set), is Bayley, who
averages 8.20 assists per set. The senior setter ranks third all-time in school
history with over 3,000 assists.
Defensively, libero Nicky Valenti and middle blocker Heather
Ford have stepped up for the Privateers through three matches. Valenti averages
4.50 digs per set while Ford stops 1.17 attacks at the net each frame.
SFA (1-2) opened the season with a victory over Western
Carolina, before dropping consecutive matches to Saint Louis and Miami (OH).
Leading the Ladyjacks is Lauren Railey with 3.67 kills per
set and Whitney Schott with 8.11 assists a frame. Defensively, SFA's Ashley
Bailey averages 1.11 blocks a set with Laurel Kuepker leading the team in digs
with three each time out.
SFA was selected second this season in the Southland
Conference and have won the last four conference titles. No stranger to the
postseason, SFA defeated Alabama
in the 2006 NCAA tournament, providing the SLC with their first postseason win
since 1989.
Montana (3-1) started their
2008 campaign at home, winning matches against UC-Riverside, Gonzaga and
Bradley before dropping their final match of the opening weekend to North Dakota State.
Grizzlies Whitney Hobbs and Brittney Brown were both named
to the all-tournament team last weekend. Hobbs
averaged 2.67 kills per set while Brown led the Grizzlies in digs for the tournament
with 3.47 per set, including a 21-dig performance against Bradley.
UNO will have to be productive on the service return against
the Grizzlies, who held a 34-8 edge over their four foes last weekend in the
category.
SMU (3-1) went 2-1 in a tournament at Baylor last weekend,
dropping a match against Baylor before coming back to beat Lamar and Prairie
View A&M. During the week, the Mustangs picked up a mid-week win against
UT-Arlington.
Kathryn Wilkerson and Dana Powell were named all-tournament
for the Mustangs last year. The pair combined to average 5.9 kills per set. The
starting libero for the Mustangs is Carly Bergquist, who originally transferred
to the Dallas school from Oregon.
All three UNO matches in the tournament will have live stats
available at the tournament web site, in addition to video for the SMU contest.
Fans interested in following all the action can view the web site at http://smumustangs.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/08-smu-radisson-invite.html
