Volleyball To Take On South Alabama After Nine-Day Layoff
Sep 17, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 17, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University volleyball team will return to action for the first time in over a week the Green Wave plays host to the University of South Alabama Jaguars Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.
Tuesday's match will be the first action for the Tulane squad since the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament back on Sept. 7-8 when the Green Wave went 3-1 with wins over Coastal Carolina, Southern Methodist and Louisiana-Monroe. Tulane was slated to play in the Mortar Board Purdue Premier last weekend, but the tournament was cancelled and Tulane suspended all athletic competition until Monday.
"We're looking forward to getting back to action," head coach Betsy Becker said. "We've been working hard in practice, and are working to polish every aspect of our game. We need to put all of the little things together from now on. Attention to detail will lead to better execution, and if we take care of the small things, good things are going to happen."
Tulane enters the South Alabama match 5-4 on the year and winners of four of its last five matches. Junior outside hitter Britney Hurst (Baton Rouge, La.) paces the club with 4.72 kills and 3.09 digs per game, followed closely by redshirt-freshman outside hitter Anastasia Kenon (San Antonio, Texas) who averages 3.63 kills and 3.03 digs per outing. Senior middle hitter Erin Dobyanski (Alvin, Texas) leads the team and ranks fourth in Conference USA with 1.19 blocks per game. Freshman setter Katie Case (Naperville, Ill.), meanwhile, is having a standout rookie campaign, averaging 11.31 assists per game to go with 1.38 kills and 1.76 digs.
The Jaguars come to New Orleans 2-2 on the year with five-game match victories over UNC-Ashville and Troy State. Junior outside hitter Selena Gamble-Chidester leads South Alabama in both kills and digs with per-game averages of 4.31 and 2.75, respectively.
"The South Alabama match can help set the tone for greatness in conference play," Becker said. "South Alabama is a very competitive team, and we have the opportunity to send a message to our conference opponents with a strong showing tomorrow night."
After Tuesday's match against South Alabama, the Green Wave opens it's Conference USA schedule on Friday when they hit the road to take on the University of Houston at 7 p.m. at Hofheinz Pavillion. The match against the Cougars is the first of two C-USA contests for Tulane over the weekend as the Green Wave will return to Fogelman Arena on Saturday for a 7 p.m. showdown against UAB.
"There's no more wishing or hoping in our locker room," Becker added. "It's time to produce. We've been getting it done in practice, and now we've got to go out every night and get it done on the court. We've had good, high intensity practices, and if we can carry that onto the court on game day, then we have a chance to be very successful."
