Tulane University
SMU
Volleyball Rolls Past Conference USA Foe SMU, 3-0
Nov 7, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 7, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - Five Green Wave players posted at least eight kills and all six student-athletes who tallied multiple attacks recorded at least a .400 attack percentage as the Tulane University volleyball team used a total team effort to defeat Conference USA foe SMU, 3-0, Friday evening at Fogelman Arena.
As a team, the Wave hit .449 on the night after recording 50 kills and a season-low six errors in 98 swings and head coach Liz Kritza was able to play 13 of the 14 players on the Tulane roster during the 25-13, 25-18, 25-13 victory. The win was the 10th in a row for Tulane and 22nd straight at home as the Green Wave improved to 21-5 on the year and 12-1 in C-USA action. SMU, meanwhile, fell to 13-15 overall and 5-9 in league play.
"That was a good showing for this team tonight," Kritza said. "I am proud of the overall team effort tonight. As far as numbers go, I cannot ask for much more. We sided out consistently, right around 80 percent except for the first set when we were over 90 percent. We almost doubled them in scoring points, out-blocked, out-dug, and out-hit them. It was just a good overall performance from everybody.
"The best thing is at this point in the season to be able to play different lineups and different players - especially those who have not had that much playing time this season - and for us to have as convincing of a win is a good sign. It is a sure sign that the program is improving. We are getting into the toughest and most important time of the season and we are playing our best volleyball and at a high level. There were a lot of good things about tonight's match."
Senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic led all players with 11 kills and hit .478 for the night after not committing an error in 23 swings. Freshman outside Visnja Djurdjevic, meanwhile, finished with 10 kills and a .417 clip with no miscues in 24 attempts. Senior right-side hitter Bridget Wells barely missed joining the pair in the double-digit kill club with nine, while senior middle blocker Jen Linder and junior right-side hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic finished with eight kills apiece.
Junior libero Jenn Miller posted a match-best 12 digs despite playing in just the first two sets, while Djurdjevic tallied a double-double with 11 digs to go along with her kill total. Senior setter Luna Rebrovic led all players with 22 assists, while Linder had six block assists to lead Tulane's 7.0 team-blocking effort.
While Tulane put up some impressive numbers individually, the team's overall defense limited the Mustangs to a .101 attack percentage (29-18-109) and only allowed SMU to score nine real points. The Green Wave did not allow a service ace for the second consecutive match and sided out 36 of the Mustangs' 45 serves (80 percent).
"Because we were siding out at such a high clip, it was really hard for SMU to score real points," Kritza said. "We were able to run our offense very effectively. Our passing was pretty stable so it was not like we were relying on just one or two hitters. We were able to run combinations at a faster pace on offense, so it was pretty difficult for them to play defense against us. Any time that you are facing a team that has multiple offensive weapons like we did today, it is really hard to score real points much less in a row."
Tulane scored the first two points of the match and never trailed at any point during the contest. SMU hung around for a while early on, but with the score at 9-5 in favor of the Green Wave, Tulane used a 5-0 rally to create some separation and never looked back.
The Mustangs played much tougher early in the second set as the two teams essentially traded the first 16 serves of the stanza and stood deadlocked at 8-all. From there, Tulane went on a 6-0 rally behind a strong serving performance by Radosevic - who posted both of her aces during the run - to make it a 14-8 affair, and the lead swelled from there.
It was more of the same in the final set as the Green Wave rolled out to an 11-3 advantage and did not let SMU get to within six points the rest of the way. The lead grew to double digits at 20-10, and Tulane outscored the Mustangs 5-2 over the final seven serves to clinch the victory.
"We already played them so we had a bit of an advantage because we know what they play like and we know what strategies to use against them," Wells said. "We just had to come back to those, exploit their weaknesses and use our advantages against a team that we already knew about. We came out and did that to the best of our ability."
Kathryn Wilkerson led SMU with eight hills and a .240 attack percentage after committing just a pair of errors in 25 swings. Kelli Becerra had 13 of the Mustangs' 25 assists on the night, and Sidney Stewart paced the back-row defense with 10 digs. Natalie Peters was the lone SMU player to tally multiple blocks during the match, finishing with a pair of block assists.
While the victory kept Tulane's winning streak alive, the Green Wave got a bit of good news prior to the start of the contest as word spread that UAB - which entered the weekend leading C-USA with a 12-1 league record - dropped a five-set match at Rice earlier in the day. Tulane's win, combined with the Blazers' loss, gives the Green Wave sole possession of first place in the conference standings. Kritza, however, was quick to warn the team and its fans not to read too much into the shift in the league rankings.
"As we are looking toward the finish line of the regular season, our focus in on our matches and what we can control," Kritza said. "We are a competitive bunch that of course is going to look at what everyone else is doing, but that takes a backseat. Tonight, hearing that Rice pulled a big upset against UAB at their place, that allows us to slide into the first-place position in the conference. But that is not as important as us staying focused on every single match. That little boost that we got because of Rice's good performance is secondary.
"We cannot look too far in the future because we could be on the other side of that on Sunday and looking at the same situation. We need to stay focused on what has gotten us to this point so far, and that has been continual improvement and trying to play at the highest possible of volleyball regardless of whom is across the net."
That team across the net in Tulane's next match will be the Golden Hurricane from Tulsa, which the Green Wave will play on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. From there, the Wave will close out the regular season with a split weekend against UTEP as Tulane will travel to El Paso, Texas, on Nov. 14 before battling the Miners in the season finale on Nov. 16 back in New Orleans. For ticket information, contact the Tulane University Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE.
