Aug. 30, 2003

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. - In Saturday morning competition at the UNO/Wyndham-Metairie Invitational, the University of New Orleans volleyball team posted a sizzling .314 attack percentage to down Samford, 3-0, at Lakefront Arena. With the win, UNO improves to 1-1 on the young season while Samford drops to 0-2.

The match opened with both teams battling evenly, as neither could establish more than a three-point lead early in the first set. With Samford holding a 22-21 advantage, UNO registered four straight points to take a 25-22 lead late in the game. Samford rallied to tie the set at 28-28, before a kill by junior Jennifer Cruz (Houston, Texas) and a Samford attack error gave the Privateers the first set, 30-28.

Energized by the first set win, UNO raced to an early 12-3 lead in the second game and eventually posted a double-digit margin at 15-5. The Privateers registered their largest lead at 20-8 before the Bulldogs recorded a 14-6 run to trim UNO's lead to four points at 26-22. However, the Bulldogs could not overcome UNO's early advantage and impressive .364 game-two hitting percentage, as the Privateers rolled to the 30-24 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The final set proved to be the match's closest, with 11 ties and 10 lead changes. With the game tied at 26-26, Cruz once again came up big for the Privateers, registering a service ace and a kill before a kill by senior Gail Kingseed (Tiffin, Ohio) and a block by Kingseed and freshman Hillary Carr (Port Allen, La.) closed the set for the 30-26 Privateer victory.

UNO continued its hot hitting streak in game three, notching a .353 attack percentage. Samford hit .185 for the match.

The Privateers were paced by Cruz, who tallied 14 kills and a .300 hitting percentage. Carr added nine kills and five blocks while junior Ana's Urdaz (San Juan, Puerto Rico) posted eight kills and 10 digs. Kingseed also finished with eight kills while junior Christine Zimmer (New Orleans, La.) led the team with 11 digs. Junior setter Melissa Mikuski (Aurora, Ill.) had 39 assists.

Hilary Gary was the only Bulldog with double-digit kills, posting 12 in the match. Stefanie Pickett added nine kills while Krista Kettering registered 37 assists.

The UNO/Wyndham-Metairie Invitational concludes tonight as Samford faces Southeastern Louisiana at 5 p.m. and UNO takes on Butler at 7 p.m. In the first match of the day, Butler swept Southeastern Louisiana, 3-0.

Story courtesy New Orleans Sports Information Office