Tulane University
FIU
Comeback Falls Short In Five-Set Loss at FIU
Sep 9, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 9, 2011
Box Score (PDF) | Season Statistics (PDF)
MIAMI, Fla. - In volleyball you never want to lose the first two sets of a match and have to come all the way back to win the final three, but on Friday night, the Tulane volleyball team nearly did just that in their match at FIU. The Panthers held on to win the five set match by scores of 27-25, 25-25-22, 21-25, 23-25, 15-7 in a marathon of a match that took nearly two and a half hours.
"We were down by two (sets) and started coming back," said Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic. "After making a couple of switches got back into the match, but gave up a couple points in a row late and it cost us. We can take away some good things from tonight's match. Olivia and Grace really showed their potential tonight and we hit much better as a team. We were doing some good things, but we allowed them to string too many points together early on and late in the match. Our unforced errors really hurt us in the end."
Tulane could have closed out the match in the early goings after hitting .328 (30K-9E-64TA) in the first two sets, but eight service errors and one blocking error were too much to overcome. The Panthers hit just .264 (25K-10E-61TA), but the home team collected eight service aces and didn't commit a blocking error.
In the first set, the largest lead for either team was three points, that coming later in the match for FIU, and each team led by two points at one time in the opening frame. The match was tied early and often, with the last even score coming at 15-15 after an Olivia Utt kill, but FIU came back to build a three-point advantage at 24-21. Tulane staved off set point four times and eventually took a 25-24 lead. The Panthers would score the final three points of the opening set to grab an early lead with the 27-25 set victory.
It was even in the early going of set two, as well, with the frame sitting at 8-8 after an FIU ball handling error. Three Green Wave errors allowed the Panthers to push their lead to four points - their largest lead of the evening until the fifth set - at 15-11. Tulane would scratch their way within one point at 20-19, but four errors - three hitting and one service - undid the comeback attempt and FIU escaped with a 25-22 set win.
Tulane led nearly the entire third set, only trailing at 15-16, and hit .257 for the frame to grab their first set victory of the night. Cori Martone and Utt combined for nine kills and just one error for a combined hitting percentage of .571 and the duo helped the Green Wave close out the third set with four kills down the stretch. The Olive and Blue led by four twice, including the final tally of 25-21, and the set included ten ties and just two lead changes.
FIU held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but from that point on in the fourth set, Tulane took control and held the momentum on their side of the net. Anna Wruck joined the attack in the fourth set and led the way with four kills, while Martone and Utt each tallied three kills in the set. The Green Wave had five more kills than the host Panthers and posted two service aces to help them even the match with the 25-23 set victory.
The fifth set was tied at 3-3 in early going, but FIU scored the next four points to grab the momentum. A Grot kill was followed by an attacking error by the Panthers made it a two point advantage for the Panthers. The Green Wave would score only two points the remainder of the set and FIU would ultimately grab the decisive set by a score of 15-7.
"We played very sloppy yesterday," Momic said. "We couldn't pass or get into system and we were lucky to win the first two sets, but today we passed a little better and we started hitting the ball better. Olivia hit for a good percentage and our middles hit well tonight. We just had some unforced errors on crucial points. We didn't do the little things and (FIU) showed their experience in the end."
Three players reached double digits in kills, with Martone leading the way with 16 kills, Utt tallying 12 kills in her first career start and Weaver adding ten kills. Mandelbaum (34 Assists/17 Digs) and Lilly Wolfe (18 Assists/13 Digs) each posted double-doubles, and Nikki Osuna grabbed 16 digs from the libero spot.
The Green Wave offense was more efficient than the Panthers on the attack in four of the five sets - posting a higher hitting percentage in the first four - but 11 service reception errors and 13 service aces undid Tulane throughout the match. FIU posted 12 blocks to 9.5 for the Olive and Blue and the Panthers held an 11-3 edge in service aces.
Tulane will host their second home tournament of the season next weekend, with the Kathy Trosclair Memorial Tournament taking place at Fogelman Arena starting on Friday, September 16. The tournament gets underway at 10:00 a.m. on Friday with Lamar playing Belmont and Tulane will play their first match at 7:00 p.m. versus Belmont.
Season tickets are still available for the 2011 volleyball season through the Tulane Ticket office for just $55 for the remainder of home schedule. Single game tickets are also being sold and can be purchased by contacting the Tulane Ticket Office at 504-861-WAVE or visiting the Tulane Team Shop inside the James Wilson, Jr. Center between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.
--www.TulaneGreenWave.com--
