Volleyball To Open Conference USA Play Friday At Houston
Sep 20, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University volleyball team will open its 2001 Conference USA schedule on Friday when the Green Wave travels to Texas to take on the University of Houston in Hofheinz Pavilion at 7:30 p.m.
The Green Wave enters the match 6-4 on the season and have won five of its last six and six of its last eight matches. History, however, is not on Tulane's side. Houston leads the all-time series 14-1, but the Green Wave did earn their first-ever victory over the Cougars in their last meeting when Tulane defeated Houston 6-15, 15-13, 15-9, 15-9 last November in Fogelman Arena.
"We want to prove that last year's win was not just a blip in the radar screen," head coach Betsy Becker said. "We'd like to turn that record against Houston around and make it in our favor. Houston is a very talented team. But we've studied a lot of film and feel that we're prepared to neutralize their most effective weapons.
"Everyone's conference record is 0-0 going into tomorrow night's league opener, and we hope that we've learned from our first 10 matches. It's like the old saying, 'proper preparation prevents poor performance.' Our team has worked hard throughout the pre-conference portion of our schedule, and we're going to try and continue to make strides in Conference USA play."
Junior outside hitter Britney Hurst (Baton Rouge, La.) paces the club with 4.83 kills per game, while redshirt freshman outside hitter Anastasia Kenon (San Antonio, Texas) paces the squad with 3.30 digs per contest. Senior middle hitter Erin Dobyanski (Alvin, Texas) leads the team and ranks fourth in Conference USA with 1.24 blocks per game, and freshman setter Katie Case (Naperville, Ill.) is having a solid rookie campaign with 11.47 assists per game to go with 1.34 kills and 1.78 digs.
Houston, meanwhile, comes into Friday's match 3-5 on the year, and coming off a tough five-game loss to No. 14 Texas A&M (30-32, 31-29, 30-28, 19-30, 15-10) Tuesday evening. Jennifer Wittenburg leads the Cougars with 5.68 kills per game, and also leads the Houston defense with 3.79 digs an outing. As a team, Houston has a .202 attack percentage with 517 kills and 237 errors in 1,387 attempts, and the Cougar defense has been solid and holds opponents to a .190 attack percentage (473-214-1,363).
The Tulane-Houston match will also be a homecoming of sorts for a few Tulane players - Dobyanski, Kenon, sophomore middle hitter Lauren Jones-McClain (Austin), freshman middle hitter Iman Houston (Hosuton) and senior setter Jennifer Witte (Arlington) - all are natives of the Lone Star state.
"A lot of the girl's parents are planning on coming out to the game, so we should have a bit of a home crowd," Becker added. "It's always fun to play in front of your family and friends, and we plan on giving them a good show against Houston."
After Friday's match in Texas, the Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 22, when they return to the Big Easy to take on C-USA foe UAB at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. The match will be the first of a four-match homestand as the Green Wave plays host to league opponents Southern Miss on Sept. 25, East Carolina on Sept 28 and Charlotte on Sept. 29.
