Tulane University
Memphis
Volleyball Falls To Memphis At Conference USA Tournament
Nov 15, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2001
HOUSTON, Texas - Britney Hurst and Deva Fowler combined for 25 kills and both tallied .300-plus attack percentage, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a tough, three-game match to Memphis in the opening round of the 2001 Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The Green Wave played well early on, and held sizeable leads in two games. But in the end, it was the senior-laden Memphis squad that prevailed over a young Tulane team. The Green Wave conclude the 2001 season with a 16-14 overall record, marking the first time since 1994 that the team finished better than .500.
"Memphis played well in all phases of the game," head coach Betsy Becker said. "They had all the answers, and we just couldn't get any sort of a rhythm going tonight. I'm disappointed, but at the same time, I'm excited about the future of this program. We're going in the right direction, and as long as our players continue to buy into what we're trying to do, the sky is the limit.
"Seniors Erin Dobyanski and Jennifer Witte have set the tone for a bright future of Tulane volleyball," Becker said. "The first year, they went 6-26 and their last year, they go 16-14. That's a huge leap and I am grateful for their commitment and dedication to the program. Our success in the future will be in a large part thanks to their hard work during their time at Tulane."
Hurst led the team with 15 kills, followed by Fowler, who had 10. Fowler led all players with a .381 attack percentage, committing just two errors in 21 attempts, and Hurst was next with a .323 mark (15, 5, 31). Four Tulane players finished with double-digit dig totals, led by sophomore defensive specialist Karlyn Daly who tallied 12. Freshman setter Katie Case was next with 11, followed by Hurst and Dobyanski with 10 each.
The Green Wave got off to a good start in game one, rolling out to an 8-4 lead. The advantage swelled to eight at 18-10, but the Tigers would not go away as Memphis cut the lead to three at 25-22. After a pair of Green Wave points, Memphis went on a 5-0 run to tie things up and outscored Tulane 4-2 the rest of the way to take game one, 31-29.
"Game one was critical for us," Becker said. "We needed to win that one, and we didn't. So the rest of the way - in games two and three - we were playing catch-up. We were so close, and yet so far.
Memphis carried the momentum of its come-from-behind win into game two and roared out to a 4-0 lead and went on to lead 9-4. Tulane called a timeout at 11-5 to regroup, but the stoppage in play did nothing to cool the red-hot Tigers as Memphis increased its advantage to 17-9. The Green Wave cut the lead to six at 18-12, 20-14 and again at 26-20, but that was as close as Tulane would get as Memphis went to win, 30-22.
Game three followed a similar script to the first stanza as Tulane jumped out to a 6-3 lead and held a 12-5 advantage early on. Memphis cut the lead to three with a 4-0 rally, but the Green Wave were able to halt the Tiger streak and maintained a four-point lead at 15-11. From there on, however, it was all Memphis as the Tigers used 4-0 and 8-0 to outscore Tulane 19-5 to end the game and win 30-20.
Memphis' Adrianne Edmonds led all players with a match-high 16 kills to pace three Tigers with double-digit kill totals. Three Memphis players had 10-plus digs, led by Amie Hamilton who tallied 14. As a team, Memphis hit .293 with 55 kills and just 14 errors in 140 attacks.
