Tulane University
Cincinnati
Volleyball Falls At Conference Leading Cincinnati, 3-0
Oct 26, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2001
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Four Cincinnati players tallied double-digit kill totals and the Bearcats hit at a .349 clip as the Tulane University volleyball team fell to Conference USA leading Cincy, 3-0, Thursday night at the Shoemaker Center.
Tulane outside hitters Anastasia Kenon and Britney Hurst each finished with 10-plus kills and the Green Wave hit a respectable .260 as a team, but it was not enough to overcome the powerful Bearcat attack that tallied 58 kills and just 13 errors in 129 attacks. With the loss, Tulane fell to 14-9 overall and 6-5 in league play. Cincinnati, meanwhile, improved to 14-5 on the year and 11-1 in conference action.
"We just learned how good Cincinnati is," head coach Betsy Becker said. "There is a reason that they were 10-1 coming into tonight's match. They're an even keeled, emotional team that makes minimum mistakes and silently beats their opponents. They had a balanced attack, they were firing on all cylinder tonight and we had no answers for them.
"Our team also learned how difficult it is to play on the road against a top ranked team. We have to bring our 'A' game to the table and maximize our abilities every point."
Kenon led all players with a match-high 15 kills while also tallying a double-double with 10 digs. Hurst was next with 13 kills and had a double-double of her own with a team-best 15 digs. Seeing spot duty due to an ankle injury sustained last Tuesday at UNO, Erin Dobyanski tallied eight kills, two digs and two block assists to help the Green Wave effort.
"Erin and Anastasia brought their whole game, and Britney showed her powerful offense out tonight," Becker said. "But you can't get it done with only three players showing up. You need a whole team effort. 'Big team, little me' - that's what our team learned tonight. We need to play less selfishly, and in turn, we will have better performances."
Cincinnati got off to a hot start, scoring the first three points of the contest and taking an 11-6 advantage. The Bearcat lead swelled to as high as nine as Cincinnati led 17-8, but the Green Wave played tough the rest of the stanza. Tulane battled back to cut the lead to three at 25-22, and the Green Wave scored 17 of the games final 28 points, but the Bearcat lead proved to be too big to overcome as Cincinnati took game one, 30-25.
Tulane's late rally did not carry over into the second stanza as the Bearcats roared out to a 10-5 lead. The Green Wave called a time out to regroup, but it would be four more Cincy points before Tulane would regain the serve. The Bearcats got a side out on the very next ball, and the lead swelled to 10 on four occasions before Cincinnati took a two-game lead with a 30-19 victory.
Things did not get any better for the Green Wave in the third game as Cincinnati ran out to a 4-0 lead, sustained a 3-1 rally by Tulane to make it 7-4. Errors hurt Tulane in the middle portion of the game as the Bearcats turned nine Green Wave miscues into points and held a 25 -14 lead. A resilient Tulane squad would not go away, however, and went on a 11-3 rally to cut the score to three at 28-25. But much like in game one, the big Cincinnati lead was too big and the Bearcats held on to win 30-25.
Bonita Wise led the Bearcats with 14 kills, followed by Becky Stahl and Rachel Torblaa with 12 each, and Tish Ladusaw with 11. Ladusaw paced the Cincy defense with a match-high 16 digs, and Rachel Beran joined her on the double-digit digs list with 12.
The Green Wave returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 27, when Tulane travels to Kentucky to take on preseason Conference USA favorite Louisville at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Arena.
