Tulane University
Temple
Volleyball Falls to Temple in Straight Sets on Sunday
Oct 19, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane volleyball's offense performed extraordinarily well on Sunday against Temple, hitting .378 on 82 swings with 40 kills, but the team's defense allowed the Owls to sneak by the Green Wave, as Temple hit .471 to defeat Tulane in straight sets on Sunday at Devlin Fieldhouse.
Tulane (5-15, 3-5) posted the second-best hitting percentage in a match this season against Temple (14-6, 5-3) on Sunday, but Temple's clip of .471 was a season-high for a Tulane opponent, as were Temple's 49 kills in a three-set match.
The Green Wave played the Owls close in the first set, as there were a total of 15 tie scores and seven lead changes in the initial action of the game. Neither squad held a lead greater than three, and after a tie at 21, Temple rattled off three straight points to get match point before Tulane battled back to make it a one-point game. However, Temple's Kirsten Overton ended the set on a kill to give Temple a 25-23 victory in what would end up being the closest action on the day.
Tulane dropped the second set, 25-16, before losing the third 25-20. Temple led throughout the second match, with Tulane leading in the third set at 9-8. Temple tied it, and other than ties at 10 and 15, the Owls led the rest of the way.
"I think we had a good chance in game one," said Tulane director of volleyball Sinisa Momic. "We played Temple point-for-point, but little things decided game one, and we sank from there."
Momic used a variety of looks on the court, switching liberos in the third set, while also making multiple substitutions throughout the course of the action. In the end, the Green Wave defense couldn't handle the offense created by Temple.
"We tried different things and tried different players, but we just didn't have an answer against their offense," added Momic. "We had a good hitting percentage, and we passed pretty well, but our blocking and our defense just couldn't match Temple's offense. That set us back, and we couldn't get out of it."
Sophomore Tea Juric led the team with 12 kills on the day, hitting at a clip of .333 (12-3-27), while fellow sophomore Sarah Strasner posted nine kills while hitting .571 (9-1-14).
Freshman Sarah Ray recorded eight kills, while senior Anna Wruck (five kills), sophomore Annie Shurtz (four), junior Amy Lanski (one) and sophomore Lauren Etta (one) also got in on the offensive action.
However, coming off a match where the team posted a season-high 20.0 blocks in an emotional win over UConn on Friday night, Tulane only managed 3.0 team blocks at the net on Sunday, tying a season low.
"Temple didn't always hit hard today, but they used a lot of placement and off-speed shots that made us change the execution of our defensive placements, which affected our discipline and defense," said Momic. "We lacked defense today."
Sophomore Ally Frank led the team in assists with 30, while Ray posted a team-high eight digs. Frank, Wruck, sophomore Makenzie Frieden and senior Grace Weaver each posted a service ace during the match.
Tulane will travel to the Sunshine State next weekend for back-to-back matches against American foes USF and UCF on Friday and Sunday, respectively. The match against USF is slated to begin at 6pm CT, while the tilt against UCF will begin at 1pm CT.
"These are two good teams," added Momic. "We have to learn from today and improve our skills because I think you cannot implement certain strategies if your skill level isn't high. We are going to communicate with our players what we are doing well and what we aren't doing well, and we will try and improve, overall."
For ticket information for future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office. The ticket office is located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr., Center and is open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For additional information, call (504) 861-WAVE (9283) or log onto the internet at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.
