Tulane University
UCF
Late Missteps Lead to Five Set Loss to UCF
Oct 17, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2010
Box Score (PDF) | Season Statistics (PDF)
NEW ORLEANS - After grabbing all of the momentum in the third set with a decisive victory, the Tulane volleyball couldn't close out UCF on Sunday (Oct. 17) in their Conference USA tilt at Fogelman Arena. The Knights won the fourth and fifth sets to send the Green Wave to their six C-USA loss by scores of 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 21-25, 9-15.
"After losing game one we came back and started playing well, but UCF did a good job of staying in the match and making plays when it counted," said Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic. "We weren't very consistent with our hitting tonight and we lost some points on simple things late in the fifth set and they took advantage of our mistakes."
The first set was back and forth, featuring 12 ties and five lead changes, but the Green Wave grabbed a 22-20 victory on a Cori Martone kill. A pair of attacking errors from the Tulane evened things up and UCF would score four of the final six points to claim the opening set. Izabela Grot and Martone each piled up six kills in the opening set, but Tulane trailed 1-0.
The second set was played just as close, however the Green Wave would lead for the majority of the frame. Tulane built a four point advantage when an attacking error from UCF made it 11-7 in favor of the home team. UCF would eventually knot the set up at 11-all and take their only lead of the frame at 18-17. Jovic carried the squad to their win with four of the final six points for Tulane to draw even at one set apiece.
Tulane controlled the third set, taking a 5-5 tie and turning it into a 13-8 lead with nice service rotations from Martone, Lindsey Shepard and Mel Mandelbaum. With their lead at 16-12, Tulane rattled off five straight points during a Martone service session, including kills from Grot, Jovic and Mandelbaum. Badawi ended the set with a kill and the Green Wave took a 2-1 lead into the intermission. Grot carried the Green Wave in the third set with seven kills and the team hit .516 for the set.
In the fourth set, the Knights led for most of the third set and didn't trail after Tulane knotted things up at 7-7. A kill and a block by from Kristen Fischer gave UCF the lead for good and the Green Wave would get no closer than two points the remainder of the set. Martone had four kills in the fourth stanza, but UCF posted three blocks and outhit the home squad .189-.133.
A 4-1 lead for Tulane in the fifth set was quickly erased by some unforced errors from the Green Wave, as they hit just .050 during the set and allowed UCF to attack at a .429 clip. Fischer connected on seven kills in the set and the home team could muster only six kills as a team.
Overall, Jovic paced the team with 19 kills and Grot chipped in 18. Mandelbaum and Martone each collected double-doubles versus the Knights, with Mel handing out 56 assists, adding 11 digs, and Martone putting up 12 kills and 18 digs.
The Olive and Blue fall to 5-15 overall this season and are 2-6 in Conference USA play with the five set loss to UCF. Tulane will have a three-match week on the horizon, starting with a trip to Southern Miss on Wednesday, Oct. 20 and ending with home matches against East Carolina and Marshall over the weekend.
--TulaneGreenWave.com--
