Volleyball Weekly Court Report Update
Nov 24, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2008
• Green Wave Court Report in PDF Format 
• CBSC Highlights of the C-USA Final 
NEW ORLEANS - The Week That Was: The Tulane University volleyball team added to its lengthy list of accomplishments over the weekend by winning the 2008 Conference USA Championship tournament at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse in Memphis, Tenn. After never winning a conference title in the previous 32 seasons of Green Wave volleyball, the 2008 squad made it a clean sweep of the C-USA regular season and tournament titles - becoming the first league program to do so since 2005. After receiving a first-round bye, the Green Wave opened the tournament with a straight-sets sweep of UCF in the quarterfinals and had to rally from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Houston in five in the semis. Tulane took a 2-1 advantage in the championship match against UAB only to see the Blazers answer with a fourth-set victory to send the contest to a fifth and deciding stanza. In set five, however, the Green Wave rolled out to an 8-4 lead and outscored their opponent 7-3 the rest of the way to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Touranment. For the weekend, Tulane averaging 12.77 kills, 11.92 assists, 14.38 digs and 1.88 blocks per set. The Green Wave offense connected at a .224 clip courtesy of 166 kills and 63 errors in 460 swings while limitting their three foes to a combined .165 mark (147-74-442). Senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic was named C-USA Tournament MVP after averaging 3.15 kills and 2.62 digs per set while tallying four block assists and a team-best eight service aces. Freshman outside Visnja Djurdjevic also claimed C-USA All-Tournament honors after posting 2.69 kills, 2.23 digs and 0.46 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Jen Linder paces the front-line defense with 1.08 blocks per set, while junior libero Jenn Miller headlines the back-row "D" with 3.85 digs per stanza.
Going Dancing: By winning the 2008 Conference USA Tournament title, the Green Wave earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament to mark the first time in the 33-year history of the program that Tulane will advance to volleyball's version of "The Big Dance." Winning the C-USA regular-season and tournament titles were both goals of the team at the season's onset. One of the main motivating factors for Tulane was not being forced to relive what happened last year when the Wave finished 28-6 overall, second in the C-USA standings with a 14-2 league record and sat 30th in the final AVCA national poll. When the NCAA Selection Committee announced the 2007 field of 64, however, the Green Wave were not in that number despite putting together an impressive resume for a postseason bid.
How Sweet It Is: Sunday's 3-2 win over UAB in the 2008 Conference USA Championship was even sweeter for the Green Wave as Tulane was able to exact a bit of revenge on the Blazers. In each of the past two seasons, UAB eliminated the Green Wave from postseason play with 3-1 wins in the 2006 quarterfinals and 2007 semifinals. In addition, the Blazers handed Tulane its only C-USA regular-season loss when UAB took a 3-2 decision back on Oct. 5 in Bartow Arena. Both Tulane/UAB matches went the distance, but in the C-USA Championship, the Green Wave took command early in the final set and never looked back. Ironically enough, Tulane's 15-6 win in the fifth set on Sunday is the exact same score the Green Wave lost to the Blazers during the regular season.
They Call It The Streak: While it is unlikely that Ray Stevens will be singing his 1974 hit at Tulane's campus and no one in the Green Wave program plans on interupting a Snoop Dogg concert to align the masses for a naked jog down through the quad and into the gymnasium "Old School" style, the Tulane volleyball team has been doing a little streaking on their own. With 3-2 win over second-seeded UAB in the Conference USA, Championship Match Sunday afternoon in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the Wave ran their winning streak to a school-record 16 in a row to raise their 2008 overall record to 27-5. The current streak surpasses the former mark of 15 originally set from Oct. 14-Nov. 5, 1977 and matched from Oct. 23, 1986 through Sept. 5, 1987.
Honors Come Rolling In: The Tulane University volleyball team swept Conference USA Player, Freshman and Coach of the Year honors, and the Green Wave placed five players on the All C-USA team for the second consecutive year, the league announced Wednesday on the eve of the 2008 Conference USA Tournament. Senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic claimed C-USA Player of the Year honors, becoming the first player in Tulane history to earn such a distinction. Rookie Visnja Djurdjevic was tabbed Freshman of the Year to become the third Green Wave student-athlete to claim the title since 2005, and fourth-year head coach Liz Kritza was named Co-Coach of the Year for the second straight year. Radosevic and senior right-side hitter Bridget Wells were named to the All C-USA first team while Djurdjevic, senior middle blocker Jen Linder and junior libero Jenn Miller claimed second-team All C-USA recognition. Djurdjevic was also named to the C-USA All-Freshman Team as well, becoming the ninth individual in program history to claim the honor.
Radosevic Makes History...Again: Already one of the most decorated players in the history of Tulane athletics, senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic added to hear already impressive career over the weekend by becoming the Green Wave's career service ace leader. With four aces against UCF, one against Houston and three against UAB, Radosevic now has 191 career aces to surpass the former record of 186 set by Gina Vaccaro from 1990-93. Earlier in the year, she became just the fifth player to post 1,000 kills and 1,0000 digs in her career. In addition to sitting atop the aces list, Radosevic ranks second in Tulane history with 1,886 kills (77 behind Alicia Robertson, 1991-94) while sitting sixth in the Green Wave record book with 1,121 digs (64 behind Ashley Reese, 1997-2000).
On Tap: With the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, some of the suspense has been taken out of the equation but the Green Wave will learn of their postseason destination on Sunday, Nov. 30, when the NCAA Selection Committee announces the 2008 NCAA Volleyball field of 64 at 9 p.m. (CST) on ESPNU. The team has no outside competition scheduled for the upcoming week, but will continue to practice in preparation for the NCAA Tournament. On Saturday, Nov. 29, the team will hold an intrasquad scrimmage at 4 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. The scrimmage is open to the public and admission is free.
