Tulane University
Houston
Volleyball Drops Tightly Contested Match to Houston
Sep 26, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 26, 2010
Box Score (PDF) | Season Statistics (PDF)
NEW ORLEANS - Though the Tulane volleyball team didn't win a set in their match versus Houston on Sunday (Sept. 26) afternoon, the Green Wave held some late leads before dropping the three setter by scores of 22-25, 23-25, 23-25. The Cougars outhit the Green Wave in the match .246-.194 and the Olive and Blue committed seven return errors to none for Houston in the loss.
"Overall we were competitive, we just need to execute our strategy and sure up our basics," said Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic. "We are still playing in spurts and we just need to start being more consistent. I told everyone that the difference between winning or losing by three points is a lot of hard work. We need to just continue to work and get better each day and start to find that consistency."
The first set seemed to be in had for the Green Wave when they took a 17-11 lead on a kill from Cori Martone, but Houston strung together seven straight points to take the lead and never trailed again to pull out a 25-22 opening set win. Izabela Grot had four kills for Tulane, but the Olive and Blue hit just .083 in the opening frame loss.
Another early lead for the Green Wave disappeared to a Cougar scoring spurt in the second set. With Tulane leading 9-7, Houston rattled off four straight points to take an 11-9 lead. UH stretched their lead to 16-11, but Tulane rallied to knot the set at 21-21 and eventually were deadlocked at 23-all. Houston would convert a kill and their fourth service ace of the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Jovic led the Green Wave with four kills in the set and Tulane hit .333, but the four UH service aces proved the difference.
Houston grabbed an early 12-7 advantage and eventually built an 18-11 lead, but Tulane stormed back to draw close late in the set. The Olive and Blue pulled within one points at 19-18 before the Cougars scored three straight times to extend their margin and eventually take the third set and the match. Jovic had five kills in the final stanza and Azarri Badawi tallied four kills to pace the Tulane offense.
Jovic posted a double-double for her second straight contest, compiling 11 kills and 11 digs, while Amaris Genemaras led all players with 12 digs. Badawi put down seven kills, hitting .545 with just one error, and Grot collected eight kills in the defeat. Mel Mandelbaum handed out 33 assists and chipped in seven digs.
Tulane falls to 4-10 overall on the season and now sit at 1-1 in Conference USA play after the opening weekend. The Green Wave will return to the court on Friday, October 1 with a 7:00 contest versus SMU at Fogelman Arena.
--TulaneGreenWave.com--
