Volleyball Opens C-USA Tournament Play Thursday vs. Rice
Nov 16, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2005
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Tulane University volleyball team opens play in the 2005 Conference USA Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 17, when the Green Wave take on host Rice University at 6 p.m. at Autry Court.
The Green Wave, seeded 11th after going 3-15 on the year and 2-13 in C-USA play, will be playing the Owls for the third time this season and looking for its first win against Rice (17-9, 8-7) since the school joined the league prior to the start of the season. The winner of the C-USA Tournament earns the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals.
"We figure we are due," first-year Tulane head coach Liz Kritza said with a laugh when discussing her team's matchup with Rice. "We played them twice and learned a lot about them. We are playing on their home court, so it will be fun to play in front of a large crowd, and we are looking to avenge our losses from earlier in the season.
"This is a fresh start for us. Everyone in the conference is 0-0 right now. Everything we have done and learned during the regular season has prepared us for this, and we feel we have a chance to do something special."
As a team, the Green Wave average 15.00 kills, 14.07 assists and 17.80 digs per game and are led by the All C-USA trio of senior libero Kelli Dickson, freshman outside hitter Sara Radosevic and rookie setter Luna Rebrovic.
Radosevic, who was named C-USA Freshman of the Year, second-team all-conference and claimed a spot on the C-USA All-Freshman Team, paces the Green Wave with 5.20 kills per game. That average ranks second in C-USA and ninth in the NCAA, and is the most by any freshman in all of Division I volleyball.
Dickson, who claimed third-team All C-USA honors, leads the team, ranks second in C-USA and stands 13th in the NCAA after averaging 5.69 digs per game during the regular season. Earlier in the season, she became the first player in Tulane history to post at least 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career, and ended the regular season ranked third in Green Wave history with 1,264 digs and fourth all-time with 2,278 assists.
Rebrovic, meanwhile, claimed C-USA All-Freshman honors after pacing the team and ranking third in the league with 12.57 assists per game. She posted 40-plus assists 12 times, 50-plus assists on five occasions and a career-best 65 assists to go with 18 digs vs. UCF on Oct. 23.
Also turning in solid seasons for the Green Wave are freshmen middle blockers Lauren Boatwright and Jen Linder. Boatwright leads the team and ranks second in the league with 1.22 blocks per game, and also chips in with 1.69 kills per stanza. Linder, meanwhile, averages 1.67 kills and 0.62 blocks per outing.
The winner of the Tulane/Rice showdown on Thursday night advances to play third-seeded Tulsa at 6 p.m. on Friday. The championship match of the C-USA Tournament is slated for Sunday at 4 p.m. and will be aired live on CSTV. Live stats for the Green Wave's matches in the C-USA Tourney are available on the official website of Tulane Athletics, www.tulanegreenwave.com.
2005 C-USA TOURNAMENT SCHEDULEHouston, Texas - Hosted by Rice University
Thursday, Nov. 17Match 1: No. 9 UCF vs. No. 8 Memphis 1 p.m.Match 2: No. 12 Southern Miss vs. No. 5 East Carolina 3 p.m.Match 3: No. 11 Tulane vs. No. 6 Rice 6 p.m.Match 4: No. 10 UAB vs. No. 7 SMU 8 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 18Match 5: Match 1 Winner vs. No. 1 Marshall 1 p.m.Match 6: Match 2 Winner vs. No. 4 UTEP 3 p.m.Match 7: Match 3 Winner vs. No. 3 Tulsa 6 p.m.Match 8: Match 4 Winner vs. No. 2 Houston 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 19Match 9: Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner 5 p.m.Match 10: Match 7 Winner vs. Match 8 Winner 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 20Championship: Match 9 Winner vs. Match 10 Winner 4 p.m.
