Tulane University
East Carolina
Radosevic Makes History As Volleyball Sweeps East Carolina
Oct 17, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - Senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic posted a match-high 14 kills and junior libero Jenn Miller tallied 22 digs as the Tulane University volleyball team defeated Conference USA foe East Carolina, 3-0, Friday evening at Fogelman Arena.
Miller made history in the Green Wave's 3-0 win over cross-town foe UNO on Tuesday by becoming Tulane's career digs leader, but on Friday, it was Radosevic's turn as the native of Zagreb, Croatia, became the fifth player in Tulane history to post 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. With nine regular-season matches left to play in 2008, Radosevic now has 1,733 kills and 1,001 digs and joins Jill Fayard (1995-98), Britney Hurst (1999-2002), Anastasia Kenon (2001-04) and Kim Sentmore (1997-2000) in the 1,000/1,000 club.
"It is no secret that Sara's name will be written all over Tulane's history books," Green Wave head volleyball coach Liz Kritza said. "I congratulate her as well as our coaches and players. To have 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs, it really says something about the caliber of player you are. She is a good all-around player and she has been playing a lot for us ever since she set foot on campus as a freshman. This is a player who understands that she has to carry a load for us both offensively and defensively. She is not allowed to have a bad night.
"Because she carries that load, she has been the target of many a team's scouting reports. She has been tabbed the preseason Player of the Year. She has her eyes on a very strong career after this. I see a level of maturity in her that I have not seen before, which is nice to see at the end of her career here. It is going to be very productive for this program. I am very proud of her, but of course, she is the first player that I get after and I want more improvement from because she has that capability."
With the 25-15, 25-16, 25-18 win, Tulane stretched its home winning streak to 20 to improve to 15-5 on the year and 6-1 in C-USA action. East Carolina, meanwhile, fell to 11-12 overall and 1-7 in league play.
Radosevic hit .333 with just three errors in 33 swings and was joined in the double-digit kill category by senior right-side hitter Bridget Wells, who finished with 10. Miller was the lone Green Wave player to post double-digit dig totals, but Radosevic was close behind with nine. Senior setter Luna Rebrovic, who played in just the first two sets before giving way to freshman Jordaliz Mercado in set No. 3, had 16 of Tulane's 38 assists, and senior middle blocker Jen Linder paced the front-line defense with three blocks.
As a team, Tulane hit .276 on the night (44-15-105) and the Green Wave defense held East Carolina to a .019 clip (26-24-104. Tulane was able to side out over an 80 percent mark (42-of-52) and held the Pirates to just 10 real points - two in the first set, three in the second and five in the third.
"We took care of business today," Kritza said. "It was a good overall team performance. The fact that we were able to change some of the most important contacts in our lineup (in the third set) and still beat a team handily is a good sign for this program. We are building depth. We took big steps as a program tonight in being able to play some younger players."
East Carolina scored the first point of the match, but that was the Pirates' only lead in the first set. With the score knotted at 3-all, Tulane used a 4-0 run to take control of the stanza and never looked back.
The second set was a much tighter affair early on as the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie over the first 16 serves. From there, Tulane used a 3-1 rally to create a little breathing room. East Carolina, however, hung around and trailed by just three at 17-14 two-thirds of the way through. The Green Wave broke the set open late and outscored the Pirates 8-2 the rest of the way.
Kritza used a pair of reserves in set No. 3 as Mercado replaced Rebrovic and sophomore Stephanie Stromath replaced fellow second-year player Lindsey Shepard in the middle, but the end result was the same as the first two stanzas. Tulane and East Carolina traded blows early on in the final set and the score was knotted at 12-12 halfway through. Once again, the Wave used a 3-0 run to keep the Pirates at arms' reach and used a 4-0 rally to end the match and spark the Tulane celebration.
The night, however, belonged to Radosevic, who posted her 16th double-digit kill match of the season. For the season, she leads the team in kills (264) and kills per set (3.62) while ranking second on the club in digs (193) and digs per set (2.64). In addition, her team-leading 20 service aces gives her 175 for her career, which ranks third in Tulane history.
"(Reaching the 1,000 kill/1,000 dig plateau) is special because my position as an outside hitter is to be a good all-around player," Radosevic said. "I think I have proved that I am and I want to prove that every day. It's not just about being a hitter. It's about playing well all around, at the net, serving and on defense. I want to prove that I'm good at every skill, not just hitting."
Stephanie Turner led East Carolina with eight kills while Hannah Fenker and Trish Monroe shared team-high dig honors with 12 each. Fenker led all players with 20 assists while Turner and Lizzy Bruin posted two block assists apiece.
The Green Wave return to action on Sunday, Oct. 19, when they take on C-USA foe Marshall at 1 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. Following this weekend's matches against East Carolina and Marshall, the Green Wave kick off another four-match road swing beginning on Oct. 24 at Rice. Tulane will also play at Houston on Oct. 26, at UCF on Oct. 31 and at Southern Miss on Nov. 4 before returning to Fogelman Arena on Nov. 7 for a 7 p.m. showdown against SMU. For ticket information, contact the Tulane University Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE.
