Green Wave Athletics Hosts Triple-Header On Satuday, Oct. 30
Oct 29, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2004
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The day before Halloween will be a busy one for Green Wave Athletics as the swimming and diving team, women's soccer team and volleyball team will all play home contests as part of a Tulane triple-header on Saturday, Oct. 30.
The day gets off with a splash - literally - as the Green Wave swimming and diving team takes on cross-town foe UNO and nationally-ranked Arkansas at 10:30 a.m. at the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium. From there, the women's soccer team closes out its regular season against C-USA rival Southern Miss at 1 p.m. at the Westfeldt Facility, and the volleyball team caps off the action-packed day with a showdown vs. league foe Cincinnati at 7 p.m. in historic Fogelman Arena.
In addition to Saturday's on-campus activities, the Tulane football team will battle C-USA member Houston at 4 p.m. at Robertson Stadium (Houston, Texas), and the men's and women's cross country teams will take part in the 2004 Conference USA Championships at 9:30 a.m. in Chicago, Ill. While not in season, the Green Wave baseball team will also play an intra-squad game at 2:30 p.m. at Turchin Stadium.
The swimming and diving team enters Saturday's matchup 2-1 on the year after defeating Florida A&M and North Florida, while falling to nationally-ranked Florida State, in Tallahassee, Fla., back on Oct. 15. The Green Wave squad will be lead by a sophomore class that includes 2004 C-USA Freshman Swimmer of the Year Linda McEachrane, as well as All C-USA performers Leslie Christian and Nicole Taheri.
UNO is in its first season of competition, and enters the meet 0-1 on the young season. Arkansas, meanwhile, will play LSU on Friday before continuing their Louisiana road swing Saturday at the Reily Center.
"UNO is just starting their program, so they're in the same situation that we were in last year," head coach Danielle Irle said. "As they continue to grow, it will be fun to develop the rivalry between the two schools that Tulane and UNO enjoy in its other sports. Arkansas is a quality program, and to be able to have a team of that caliber come in to New Orleans to play us this early in the year will be a good test for our team."
From there, Tulane fans can continue down Ben Weiner Drive to the Westfeldt Facility where the soccer team will take on Southern Miss at 1 p.m. The Green Wave will be playing for its postseason life as Tulane needs a win on Saturday, coupled with losses by Memphis and TCU to earn a spot in the 2004 C-USA Championship next week in St. Louis, Mo.
Tulane enters the contest 6-10-2 on the year and 3-5-1 in conference action. Senior forward Lindsay Morris paces the Green Wave with six goals, 13 points and 25 shots, and sophomore defender Leah Thompson leads the squad with three assists.
Junior Megan Morey has played every minute of the 2004 season in goal for the Green Wave, and has 84 saves in 1,681 minutes of action. She also ranks among the league leaders in goals against average with a mark of 1.50.
"We need to take care of what we need to do, and the rest will fall into place," head coach Betsy Anderson said. "Throughout the season, we have relied on individuals to step up due to injuries. We will still have some people out, including Toni Schlaprizzi who injured her knee last week during the Marquette game, so we'll need some of the others to continue to step up and fill in the gaps. We'll be home, so that will be an advantage, and we want to send our seniors out in style."
In the nightcap, Saturday's volleyball match will be the second of two weekend contests for the women in olive green and sky blue, as the Green Wave take on Louisville on Friday night before battling Cincinnati to wrap up the Tulane triple-header.
Tulane enters the weekend 13-5 overall and 4-3 in C-USA play. As a team, the Green Wave is averaging 15.68 kills, 17.06 digs and 2.67 blocks per game. Offensively, Tulane is hitting .233 with 998 kills and 398 errors in 2,530 attempts, while the defense has held opponents to a .153 clip (849-460-2,537).
Senior outside hitter Anastasia Kenon leads the team with 4.09 kills per game, and senior middle blocker Deva Fowler paces the squad in total kills, total blocks and blocks per game with totals of 230, 87 and 1.40, respectively. Dickson headlines the back-row defense with 4.23 digs per outing, while senior outside hitter Lindsey Norman chips in with 3.12 per outing.
"Cincinnati has been up and down this year, but they always get better as the season goes on," Becker said. "This weekend will be an opportunity for us to play against two of the top teams in the conference, and I think the team is up for the challenge. We know it won't be easy, but we had a good week of practice and will be ready for the weekend."
For ticket information to these contests, as well as future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.
