Volleyball To Take On C-USA Foe East Carolina
Sep 27, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2001
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane University volleyball team returns to action on Friday when the Green Wave plays host to Conference USA foe East Carolina at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.
Tulane, 8-5 overall and 2-1 in league play, has now won two straight matches and seven of its last nine contests. East Carolina, meanwhile, comes to the Big Easy 2-9 overall and still searching for its first C-USA victory after an 0-2 start.
"ECU is a very good ball-control team that plays extremely scrappy volleyball," head coach Betsy Becker said. "They like to run a lot of combination plays, and can be deceptive in their attack. We're going to have to counter that by maintaining good ball control and by dominating them with power at the net."
Junior outside hitter Britney Hurst (Baton Rouge, La.) leads Tulane's attack with 4.67 kills per game, which ranks tied for third among all C-USA players. Redshirt-freshman outside hitter Anastasia Kenon (San Antonio, Texas) paces the Green Wave defense with 3.41 digs per game, followed closely by Hurst with a 3.35 average, and ranks second on the team with 3.77 kills per contest.
Tulane will employ a bit of a new look on Friday as sophomore middle hitter Lauren Jones-McClain (Austin, Texas) returns to the starting lineup, moving senior Erin Dobyanski (Alvin, Texas) to the right side. Dobyanski leads the team and ranks third in the league in blocks with a 1.20 per-game average. Jones-McClain, who sat out the early goings to recover from abdominal surgery, earned C-USA All-Freshman honors last season after tallying 238 kills, 301 digs, 78 blocks and 21 service aces.
Also expected to earn her first start of 2001 is freshman outside hitter/defensive specialist Lindsey Norman (Glendale, Ariz.) who will replace sophomore Karlyn Daly (Aurora, Colo.). Daly will sit out the weekend as a precautionary measure after suffering a minor injury during Wednesday's practice. Norman is no stranger to the Green Wave line-up, though, as she has played in every match during the 2001 season and has tallied 101 digs, 13 aces, nine kills and five blocks.
While the line-up shift does not concern her, Becker does want her team to concentrate more throughout the match and to develop a killer instinct.
"We want to start out strong like we did on Tuesday against Southern Miss, but we want to finish stronger," Becker said. "We need to eliminate that game-three lull. We've got to learn to put teams away.
"In volleyball, if you lose game three, the other team has all of the momentum. The next thing you know, the other team has won game four, and then you're just 15 points away from a loss. We've got to learn to keep pounding the hammer on the nail until the final one is all the way in the coffin."
The Pirates are led by Amanda Rudolph and Robyn Drewes who average 2.62 and 2.56 kills per game, respectfully. Rudolph paces the ECU defense with 3.62 digs per game, and Lisa Donovan is the team's floor leader with 248 assists.
After Friday's match against East Carolina, the Green Wave will conclude its four-match home stand on Saturday night with a 7:00 showdown against league opponent Charlotte in Fogelman Arena.
