Tulane University
TCU
Volleyball Cruises Past Horned Frogs, Beats TCU 3-0
Nov 2, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 2, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Three Green Wave players tallied double-digit kill totals and the squad tallied a .320 attack percentage as the Tulane University volleyball team defeated Conference USA foe TCU, 3-0, Friday evening at Fogelman Arena.
Four players hit .350 or better, including senior Erin Dobyanski who hit .526 with 11 kills and just one error in 19 attacks. With the win, Tulane improves to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in league play. TCU, meanwhile, falls to 6-18 on the year and 2-10 in conference action.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink," head coach Betsy Becker said. "But you can give them crackers to make them thirsty and make them want to take a drink. Tonight, we actually gave the team crackers in the locker room to make them hungry for a win. They came out with a lot of intensity, and we came away with a win."
Junior outside hitter Britney Hurst led all players with 16 kills, and fellow outside hitter Anastasia Kenon tied Dobyanski for second on the team in kills with 11. Following Dobyanski in attack percentage was sophomore middle hitter Lauren Jones-McClain with a .500 mark (8 kills, 2 errors, 12 attacks), Kenon with a .400 mark (11-1-25) and Hurst with a .353 clip (16-4-34).
Hurst and Dobyanski tied for team defensive honors and both tallied double-doubles with 11 digs. Kenon was close behind with eight, followed by Jones-McClain with seven and freshman setter Katie Case with six. Case led all players with 45 assists.
The Green Wave defense was also stout at the net, tallying 11.5 team blocks. Dobyanski, Jones-McClain and freshman middle hitter Deva Fowler each had five blocks, Hurst had three and Case had a pair.
Tulane got things going early, racing out to a 10-6 lead. TCU came back to tie the score at 11, but the Green Wave came right back with a 7-1 run to take an 18-11 lead and never looked back. The Horned Frogs cut the lead to four at 23-19, but that was as close as Tulane would allow as the Green Wave went on a 7-2 rally to end the game and take the first stanza, 30-21.
It was TCU, however, that got out the early lead in game two, holding a 9-7 advantage. The Horned Frogs went on a 5-0 run to make it 14-7, and the lead would remain at seven with TCU grasping an 18-11 lead. Down seven late in the game, Tulane got things together and began to chip away. The Green Wave cut the lead to 20-15 and later sliced the TCU two at 25-23. Tulane tied things up two points later at 25-all, and went on to outscore TCU 5-3 the rest of the way to take a 30-28 win.
"I thought a real critical point in the match tonight was coming back from a seven-point deficit in game two. That really took the wind out of TCU's sails, and it gave us that much more momentum to carry us through the match. I felt that TCU served extremely tough and really pulled us out of our system. But we have enough power on the outsides to overcome that."
TCU got off to a hot start again in game three, jumping out t a 6-2 lead and holding a 15-13 lead midway through the stanza. It was all Green Wave the rest of the way, though, as the home team went on a 16-5 rally to take a 29-20 advantage. TCU staved off seven game points to cut the lead to two, but Hurst hammered one home to end the match and give the Green Wave a 30-27 win.
Jenn Cuca led TCU with 14 kills, and Allison Lynch chipped in 10. Marci King paced the Horned Frog defense with nine digs, and Tori Barlow and Lynch each had seven. The Green Wave tomorrow, when Tulane closes out the 2001 home slate against Houston at 7 p.m. Prior to the contest against the Cougars, Tulane will honor seniors Dobyanski and Witte for their hard work and dedication to the Green Wave program.
"We've got to step up our first contact tomorrow night, because Houston is a much better team," Becker said. "We've got to improve in all areas of the game, and go all out for our seniors."
