Volleyball To Battle Southern In Break From C-USA Play
Oct 1, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 1, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Riding the wake of a four-match winning streak, the Tulane University volleyball team will hit the road Tuesday evening when the Green Wave travels to Baton Rouge, La., for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Southern University Jaguars in Seymour Gymnasium.
Tulane, 10-5 overall and 4-1 in Conference USA play, has won five of its last six matches and nine of its last 11 contests. Since dropping a 3-2 decision to C-USA power Houston on Sept. 18, the Green Wave have not dropped a single game, defeating league foes UAB, Southern Mississippi, East Carolina and Charlotte in straight-game victories.
"Basically, our team needs to keep working hard every day and not get complacent," head coach Betsy Becker said. "Just because we're on a roll does not mean that we can afford to get cocky.
"In rally scoring, any team can give us a fight, regardless of their record. We have to buckle down, control the tempo and be goal oriented. Those goals are to ultimately win the match, and stay within a certain point difference which we set before each contest."
The match will be a bit of a homecoming for junior outside hitter Britney Hurst as Hurst is a native of Baton Rouge, and prepped at Southern Lab where she helped the Kittens qualify for the state playoffs in 1998 and was twice named district MVP.
Hurst leads the Green Wave squad with 4.62 kills per game, and ranks second on the club with 3.33 digs per outing. In three matches last week, she tallied 44 kills, 34 digs, four assists, three service aces and two block assists. Hurst also hit .288 for the week (44 kills, 14 errors, 104 attacks) while averaging 4.89 kills and 3.78 digs per game.
"I'm looking forward to going home and playing in front of my family and friends tomorrow," Hurst said. "My brother is a football player there, so I know he'll be there, and some of my other family that can't make the trip down here to New Orleans every time we play will be there, too.
"It's always fun to go back there and see all the signs in the stands that my friends make. I actually volunteered for the Southern volleyball camps a few times and know the players there real well, so it'll be fun to go back home and show them what kind of team we have here at Tulane."
Redshirt-freshman Anastasia Kenon (San Antonio, Texas) paces the Tulane defense with 3.46 digs per game, and ranks second to Hurst on the kills list with a 3.78 average. Senior middle hitter Erin Dobyanski (Alvin, Texas) paces the Green Wave and ranks third in the conference with 1.18 blocks per game, and freshman middle hitter Deva Fowler is third on the team with 2.27 kills per contest.
Southern, meanwhile, enters the match 7-7 on the year, including wins in three of their last four outings. The Lady Jaguars average 11.12 kills per game as a team, and are led by Ashley Burns with 2.87 per game. Mayumi Takeuchi is close behind with 2.50 kills per game and leads the Southern defense with 3.24 digs per contest.
The Southern match is first of five-straight road games for the Green Wave as Tulane will play at Southern Mississippi on Oct. 5, at Saint Louis on Oct. 12, at Memphis on Oct. 13 and at UNO on Oct. 16. Tulane's next home match is slated for Oct. 19 when the Green Wave will take on C-USA foe Marquette at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.
