Green Wave Seeks to Complete Perfect Home Season Friday
Nov 7, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 7, 2007
The Tulane volleyball team looks to complete a perfect home season in the Conference USA finale against UTEP Friday at 5 p.m. at Fogelman Arena. The match - moved to a 5 p.m. tip prior to men's basketball's season opener - can shore up one of the top two seeds in the C-USA tournament, and cap a 12-0 home season.
The Green Wave (25-5 overall, 13-2 Conference USA) will look to extend their win streak to a season-best nine matches. The Green Wave have earned a C-USA tourney bye, but can gain a share of the regular season title with a win and a Marshall loss (to either UAB Friday or Memphis Sunday), or win the regular season crown outright with a win and a pair of Marshall losses.
The only way Tulane could finish with the three-seed would be if UAB won both matches this weekend while Marshall lost twice and the Green Wave fell to UTEP (9-19 overall, 3-12 C-USA). That scenario would result in a three-way tie for the regular season championship, with UAB taking the top seed.
The finish is likely to be the highest for the Green Wave in Conference USA. Tulane finished tied for third last season, with a school-record 11 C-USA wins.
The Green Wave lead Conference USA in hitting percentage, at .273, ranking 15th in the nation. Tulane is on pace to shatter the school record for hitting percentage (.264 in 1990). Leading the charge are junior middle blocker Jen Linder (.408 hitting percentage, which leads Conference USA) and junior outside hitter Bridget Wells (.334) who ranks seventh in C-USA. The Green Wave's margin in C-USA is so great, that the Wave could commit 87 consecutive attack errors and still lead C-USA. (the formula for hitting percentage is kills minus errors, divided by attempts).
Tulane is also on pace to break its school records in kills per game (16.95 in 2007, record 16.03 in 2003), assists per game (15.66 in 2007, 15.00 last season), and total assists (1,644 in 2007, 1,739 in 2002).
The Green Wave have an outside shot at breaking the single-season team kills mark (1,780 this season, 1,961 in 2002).
Individually, Sophomore Jenn Miller has already become the single-season digs leader (529) breaking her own record off 507 last season. She now has 1,036 digs in her career, ninth all-time and just 330 back of the all-time mark.
Prior to the match, Tulane Athletics is throwing a block party at 3:30 p.m. It is open to the public and will feature music, free food and beverages, $1 beer, and free giveaways.
Following the match, the Green Wave men's basketball team opens its regular season against Auburn at 8 p.m.
