Tulane University
Houston
Volleyball Rolls Past Houston In Conference USA Opener, 3-0
Sep 26, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - Senior outside hitter Sara Radosevic posted a team-best 12 kills and senior right-side hitter Bridget Wells finished with 10 in 24 swings as the Tulane University volleyball team swept Conference USA foe Houston, 3-0, in the league opener for both teams Friday evening at Fogelman Arena.
The Green Wave rolled in the first set, 25-13, but fell behind by as many as seven midway through the second set at 15-8. Tulane rallied back to win the set, 25-23, and after scoring the first six points of set No. 3, cruised to a 25-21 victory. With the win, Tulane stretched its winning streak to seven in a row and its home winning streak to a school record-tying 17 to improve to 9-4 on the year and 1-0 in C-USA play. Houston, meanwhile, falls to 7-6 overall and 0-1 in league action.
"I'm happy that we got our first conference win and a convincing one at that," Tulane head coach Liz Kritza said. "This team knows that there were times when we could have performed better and we all realize that. After winning set one pretty handily, Houston made a good adjustment and we actually strayed from our game plan. When we do that, it takes the advantage that we had in set one and turned it into a lot of points for them that we had to come back."
"All in all, it was a balanced match. I think that we gave up some easy points on some unforced errors that were uncharacteristic for us. They were very uncharacteristic of the level that we expect to play at every day. We got used to playing at a certain level from being out on the road. We learned our lessons from playing that tough non-conference schedule and we made it our own goal and our own challenge to continue to play at that level throughout our conference season."
While Radosevic and Wells paced the club in kills, junior right-side hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic finished the night with nine kills to push her career total to 1,001. In addition to becoming just the 12th student-athlete in Tulane volleyball history to hit the 1,000-kill mark, Vlaskovic connected at a .316 clip with just three errors in 19 swings while posting a solo block and a block assist to finish the match with 10.5 points.
"I was really surprised, but it feels really good," Vlaskovic said of hitting the kills benchmark. "We have all worked really hard, but it's a great feeling to get something that stands as a symbol of what we try to do here."
Tulane made it look easy in the opening stanza as the Wave turned a 5-5 tie into a 10-5 affair with a 5-0 run and led by seven 12 serves later at 17-10. The Cougars sliced the lead to six at 19-13, but Tulane scored the final six points of the set to earn a 12-point victory.
The second set was a very different story, however, as Houston erased an early 3-0 deficit and led by as many as seven midway through the contest. Tulane battled back to eventually tie the score at 21-all and reclaimed the lead at 23-22 on a kill by freshman outside hitter Visnja Djurdjevic. Another Djurdjevic kill gave the Wave set point at 24-23, and following a service error, the combination of Wells and senior middle blocker Jen Linder completed the comeback with a block to give Tulane a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
"It was a little tense at the beginning of the second set," junior libero Jenn Miller said. "But coming off a six-match winning streak, that really taught us how to win. We worked well together at the end and we are better under pressure than we were last year. It was just good to come out of here with a win."
Three aces by senior setter Luna Rebrovic, a pair of Cougar miscues and a Wells kill gave Tulane a 6-0 advantage in what proved to the final set of the contest, and the Green Wave never looked back. Houston did not give in and actually out-scored Tulane, 21-19 the rest of the way, but the early lead proved to the difference in the ballgame.
The Green Wave hit .245 for the match with 46 kills and just 19 errors in 110 swings, and junior setter Rachel Lindelow led the balanced offense with 21 of the team's 43 assists. Linder finished with six kills and six blocks (all assisted),a nd the duo of Lindelow and Miller tied for team-high dig honors with 11 apiece.
Houston's Justine Farmer led all players with 15 kills, and Amanda Carson paced the Cougars with a match-high 15 digs. The Cougars out-blocked the Green Wave, 9-8, as Kelsey King tallied one solo block and four block assists while Lucy Charuk tallied five block assists. King led Houston with 24 assists.
"The first game was pretty much a no-show," Houston head coach Bill Walton said. "Then in the second game, we were up 19-14 and then 21-18. I'm thinking when you're up 19-14, you probably shouldn't lose when you're playing to 25. That has happened to us a couple of times during the year against good teams where we are in a position to win and we kind of get ahead of ourselves. We don't stay in things, we lose a few points, we get tight and then we kind of break down.
"I didn't think we came out with the right emotion (in the third set). We lost the game and lost momentum, and you have to alter your thinking and your mental approach to the next game. You have to go out there like we won the last game and we have to get the momentum back. Instead, we go out and we're down , 6-0. We played pretty good after that, but we weren't able to overcome that initial six points."
The Green Wave return to action on Sunday, Sept. 28, when they play host to C-USA foe Rice at 1 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. For ticket information to that match, as well as future Green Wave Athletics competitions, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE. Tickets can be purchased over the phone, via the internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com, or in person on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr., Center.
