MONROE, La. - The ULM volleyball team used a dominant
offensive performance to stay alive in the hunt for its first-ever berth into
the Sun Belt Conference Championship with a 3-1 (25-13, 25-9, 18-25, 25-22) victory
over Florida Atlantic Saturday in the ULM Activity Center.
The victory improves ULM to 10-14 overall this season and
4-10 in league play, marking the first time since 2005 the program has reached
double-digits in the win column. It is also just the second time in 21 years
the Warhawks have reached at least 10 wins in a season. The defeat of the Owls
ended a seven-match losing skid for ULM.
Samantha Morse and Blanca Ocana led a ULM offense that fired
at a season-best .279 rate with 14 kills and 12 kills, respectively. Morse had
a .329 attack rate while Mahogany Dilonga had nine kills and no errors for a
match- and career-best .562 clip. As a team, the Warhawks hit a scorching season-high
.545 average in the second set.
Zuzana Markova earned her 19th double-double of
the season with 24 assists and 15 digs. Meghan McCoy also reached
double-figures in assists with 15 and Marcela Urbina had 19 digs. The Warhawks
out-blocked the Owls 10 to 5, led by Dilonga who had six total including one
solo. Morse, Markova and Alannah Cullum also had four blocks apiece. Lacey
Dietlin had four service aces, matching a career-high.
After allowing Florida Atlantic (3-23, 0-14 SBC) back into
the match with a win in the third set to make the score 2-1, ULM used a
six-point streak including kills by Morse, Dilonga and Tetiana Sukach to swing
the momentum back in its favor 14-7. The Warhawks held their advantage until
the 22-17 mark when four-straight points put FAU within one 22-21. However, ULM
scored the final three points needed capped by a Cullum kill to win the set and
match 25-22.
With losses in the first two sets a fired-up Owls team
seized a 10-point advantage in the third set 15-5 after utilizing streaks of
four- and five- consecutive points. The Warhawks put together three-straight
points with a service ace by Dietlin and a kill by Ocana to make the score
21-15, but FAU took a final 4-3 run to win its only set 25-18.
Three-straight kills by ULM gave it a 9-5 advantage in the
first set and held it until the 13-9 mark when it broke out with a five-point
spree to more than double the lead 18-9. The Warhawks allowed just four more
points to Florida Atlantic as it used a 7-4 run to end the set 25-13.
The Warhawks had their most dominant performance in a single
game this season during the second set with five-consecutive points fueled by
three-straight Dietlin service aces to more than triple the lead 10-3. The Owls
scored before another four-point ULM streak ensued for a commanding 14-4
advantage. ULM never allowed FAU to score back-to-back points during a final
11-5 run that ended the set 25-9. The Warhawks had just two attack errors on 22
attempts.
ULM closes out the regular season next weekend when it faces
Sun Belt members UALR and Arkansas State for the second time this season. The
Warhawks host the Trojans Friday at 3 p.m. followed by the Red Wolves Sunday at 1 p.m.
