Tulane University
Marquette
Volleyball Makes Point In Defeating Marquette, 3-1
Oct 19, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University volleyball team proved that it deserved to be mentioned among the best team in Conference USA as the Green Wave defeated perennial league power Marquette, 3-1, Friday evening in Fogelman Arena.
After falling behind early and dropping the first game, 30-27, the Green Wave took control of the match and cruised to a convincing four-game victory. The win snaps a two-match conference losing streak, improving Tulane to a 14-7 overall record and a 6-3 mark in league play. Marquette, meanwhile, fell to 11-8 on the year and 4-4 in conference action.
"I felt that we beat a very solid team tonight, and I think we finally struck a balance between confidence and humility," head coach Betsy Becker said. "We need to know that we're good and still feel like we have to prove it every night. That's what we've been aiming for, and we feel we accomplished that tonight.
"We felt coming into the match that we had better athletes than Marquette had, even though Marquette has a historically better program. Tonight, we used that athleticism to take them out of their game plan and keep them off balance offensively."
Junior outside hitter Britney Hurst led the Green Wave with 19 kills, while chipping in with 16 digs, two aces and a block assist. Fellow outside hitter Anastasia Kenon, a redshirt freshman, had 18 kills and 13 digs, and defensive specialist Karlyn Daly led all players with a match-high 18 digs.
Middle hitters freshman Deva Fowler, who made her first collegiate start against the Golden Eagles, and sophomore Lauren Jones-McClain combined for 11 kills and 10 blocks. Four Tulane player tallied double-digit dig totals and combined for 79 as a team as the Green Wave held Marquette to a .170 attack percentage (67 kills, 34 errors, 194 attacks).
Sophomore right-side player Kim Swafford led all players with a .600 attack percentage with nine kills and no errors in 15 swings, and freshman setter Katie Case hit .421 with eight kills and no errors in 19 swings while adding 54 assists.
"Our set distribution was more balanced tonight, so we narrowed the gap in that our middles and right sides are getting more swings, and not just our outside hitters," Becker said. "This is what separates the good teams from the great teams. We certainly need to improve on it, but we definitely took a step in the right direction."
Tulane got off to a rocky start as Marquette jumped out to a 10-5 lead. The Green Wave would chip away and cut the lead to one at 11-10, but the Golden Eagles soared out to a 20-14 lead and never looked back en route to the game-one win.
Things were different in game two, however, as the Hurst scored the first points of the stanza and the Green Wave never lost the lead. Tulane went on to lead 7-3 and 20-13, held off a pesky Marquette attack, and maintained a disciplined attack throughout the game and tied the match at one game a piece with a 30-21 decision.
Tulane got off to a hot start again in the third stanza, rolling out to an early lead. But unlike game two, the Green Wave could not maintain its advantage as Marquette took its first lead at 10-9. The Golden Eagle lead swelled to as many as four at 16-12, but Tulane battled back to knot things up at 18-all. After trading the next four points, Tulane took a 21-20 lead on a Marquette miscue, never looked back and rolled on to a 30-23 victory.
It was all Tulane in game four, though, as the Green Wave took an early 7-3 lead rolled out to 21-14 lead. Tulane hit a bump in the road at that point as the Golden Eagles went on an 8-3 run to cut the lead to just two, but Tulane regained its composure and went on to win, 30-26.
The Green Wave returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 20, when Tulane closes out two-match home stand against league foe DePaul at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.
