Friday, November 8, 2002

New Orleans defeats FIU in five tough games

ehind a triple-double from senior Melissa Caravella, the University of New Orleans won its last home match of the season in dramatic fashion Friday night, downing FIU in five sets. Caravella finished with 25 kills, 13 digs and 10 blocks for her first career triple-double as the Privateers improve to 13-17 overall, 6-7 in the Sun Belt. Florida International is now 8-20 overall, 2-10 in the conference.

All of the match’s games featured early close play. In the first set, UNO managed to take the game’s first decisive lead at 18-15, but four straight points from FIU, including three aces from Adriana Fundora, gave the Golden Panthers the advantage at 19-15. Two consecutive Privateer points gave the lead back to UNO, and the advantage stayed within one point until UNO reeled off four straight points to take a 28-23 lead. The Golden Panthers rallied to narrow the margin to one point at 28-27, but kills from Jennifer Cruz and Jessica Helgeson closed the set with the UNO win.

The second set was tight early on as well, but a 6-1 FIU run put the Golden Panthers up comfortably at 15-9. The Privateers responded with a 6-1 run of their own, but could never even the set, as FIU put the Privateers away with four consecutive points late in the set en route to the 30-25 win.

In the third game, UNO would be the team in pull away after the two teams traded points to start the set, eventually opening up a 13-7 advantage off five straight points. FIU rebounded to narrow the margin to two points at 15-13, but the Privateers again notched five consecutive points to take a comfortable 20-13 lead. The advantage would be as much as eight points before UNO closed the set with the 30-25 victory.

The match’s fourth set was the closest of the evening, as neither team could establish more than a two-point advantage. FIU eventually took a 29-27 lead late in the set. The Privateers held off one game point before succumbing to the Golden Panthers, 30-28.

Much like the rest of the match, the two teams battled evenly in the fifth set. The squads traded points, but UNO took the first substantial lead at 11-9. The Golden Panthers responded to tie the match at 13-13, but the Privateers quickly posted its first match point at 14-13. FIU battled off that point but UNO posted another at 15-14. With their backs to the wall, the Golden Panthers batted away that UNO opportunity as well. UNO again registered a match point at 16-15 but a Golden Panther attack error sealed the match with the 17-15 UNO victory.

In addition to her triple-double, Caravella hit .535 in the match.

For FIU, Fundora notched a match-high 26 kills, tying a season high, in addition to 10 digs. Jennifer Owens and Oksana Zablueva each chipped in 15 kills.

The Golden Panthers will next host Arkansas State at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night.