Tulane University
Louisville
Volleyball Improves But Comes Up Short At Louisville
Oct 27, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 27, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Redshirt freshman outside hitter Anastasia Kenon had 11 kills and a match-high 18 digs, but it was not enough as an improving Tulane University volleyball squad fell to Conference USA power Louisville, 3-0, Saturday evening at Cardinal Arena.
One match after falling to league-leading Cincinnati, 3-0, when Becker was disappointed with her club's performance, the Green Wave had a better showing, but still came up shy against a club that has been ranked in the Top 25 throughout the 2001 season. With the loss, Tulane's third straight overall and fourth consecutive on the road, the Green Wave fall to 14-10 on the year and 6-6 in Conference USA action. Louisville, meanwhile, improved to 16-4 on the year and 10-3 in league play.
"This was much better than Thursday night against Cincinnati," Becker said. "I felt our first contact was much improved. (Setter) Katie Case was creating split blocks and one-on-one situations, but we just couldn't put the ball away. (Outside hitter) Britney Hurst had a very good offensive game and Katie did a good job of spreading the attack. We outblocked Louisville, but we have to have more than one player swinging hard."
Hurst, an outside hitter, paced Tulane with a match-best 17 kills and led the team with a .311 attack percentage, but Tulane hit just .164 as a team with 40 kills and 18 errors in 134 attempts. Kenon led three players with double-digit dig totals as sophomore outside hitter Karlyn Daly had 13 and Case, a freshman setter, tallied 10.
Louisville countered with a .298 attack percentage (59-20-131) and used a balanced attack with five players tallying eight or more kills, including three in double digits. The Cardinals also outdug Tulane, 64-57.
"Louisville had five guns to our one tonight," Becker said. "They were very steady tonight throughout the whole match. Every time they scored, they built on that momentum and we were not able to put the fire out. We just need more than one player firing at one time. We need at least three.
"We have the ability to be so good as a team, and if we can continue to believe in ourselves, we can finish the season out strong. Our young players are getting better and better every game. If you combine that with that improvement with the upperclassmen's experience, we'll still be in contention to be one of the top teams in the conference."
The Green Wave got off to a good start, rolling out to a 7-3 lead. But Louisville answered with an monstrous 16-4 run to take a commanding 19-11 advantage. The Green Wave would chip away at the lead, cutting it to five on three occasions, getting it down to four at 25-21, and slicing the Cardinal advantage to three at 26-23. But the early Louisville lead proved to be too much as the Cardinals won game one, 30-24.
Game two started the same as the first stanza as Tulane ran out to a 6-3 lead, only to have Louseville come back and tie things up with a 3-0 run. Tulane held a slight advantage throughout the middle portion of the stanza, but could never get ahead by more than two. Louisville tied things up on three occasions, but with the score knotted at 15-all, the Cardinal went on a 6-2 rally to take a 21-17 lead. Tulane battled back to cut the lead to two at 25-23, but that was as close as the Green Wave could get at the Cardinals would take a two-game advantage with a 30-23.
Neither team could gain control of game three early on, but with the score tied 7-7, Louisville went on a 6-1 run to take a 13-8 advantage. Tulane would cut the lead to four on four occasions, but Louisville went on a 4-0 rally to take a 21-13 lead and never looked back. The Louisville lead swelled to as high as 10 at 26-16, but Tulane would not go away quietly, and battled back to cut the lead to six at 28-22. But, once again, the Cardinal lead was too much to overcome and the home team would win the third stanza, 30-22.
Sonja Percan led the Cardinals with 13 kills, followed by Benny Flynn with 11 and Stacey Mercer with 10. Setter Jing Ding led the Louisville defense with 13 digs while posting a match-high 45 assists.
The Green Wave returns to action on Tuesday, Oct. 30, when Tulane plays host to in-state foe Nicholls State at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. The match against the Lady Colonels will be the first of a three-match homestand for the Green Wave as Tulane will host Conference USA rivals TCU and Houston on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
