Tulane University
Memphis
Volleyball Falls To Memphis In American Opener, 3-0
Sep 26, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/Memphis Box Score In PDF Format
NEW ORLEANS - Freshman right-side hitter Sarah Ray had 11 kills and sophomore libero Miah Diirell tallied 12 digs, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Memphis in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Friday evening in Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Green Wave fell behind 7-1 in the opening set and rallied all the way back to take a 23-22 lead late in the stanza. Memphis, however, scored the final three points of the frame to take a 25-23 lead and trailed just twice the rest of the way as the Tigers completed the sweep with wins of 25-13 and 25-15. In defeat, Tulane fell to 2-11 overall and 0-1 in American action. Memphis, meanwhile, won its ninth consecutive match to improve to 11-4 on the year and 1-0 in league play.
"For some reason we again underperformed," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "Everything starts with passing and we weren't able to have a passing unit that can pass the ball anywhere close to the standard where we should be. From there, everything falls apart because our offense becomes too simple. We have to figure out why that's happening, but it's not just in passing. It's almost every skill that we're struggling with right now.
"We're not performing well in matches, even though we're able to do it in practices at a pretty high level. It's my job to get that changed and see what we can do better. Obviously, it was a poor performance again from passing to defense to hitting. We just couldn't connect on anything."
As a team, Tulane hit just .089 after tallying 28 kills and committing 19 errors in 101 swings. After posting 12 kills and just six miscues in the opening set, the Green Wave had just three more kills than errors over the final two frames. Memphis connected at a .278 clip with 38 kills and 11 errors in 97 attacks.
Ray was the lone Green Wave player to post double-digit kill totals as sophomore outside hitter Annie Shurtz was second on the team with five kills while sophomore outside hitter Tea Juric and sophomore middle blocker Sarah Strasner tallied four apiece. Sophomore setter Ally Frank had 24 of the team's 28 assists and Ray led the front-row defense with four block assists.
The Tigers came out of the locker room on fire, tallying six kills and an ace over the first eight serves of the match to take a 7-1 lead. The Green Wave shook off the slow start and used a 16-10 run to the match at 17-all. The two teams traded the next eight points and Tulane appeared to be on the brink of taking a one-set lead as the Wave rebounded from a 22-21 deficit with a kill by Ray and an attack error by Memphis' Catlin Lilly to take a 23-22 lead. The Tigers, however, took advantage of three consecutive Tulane errors to take the opening frame.
The momentum of Tulane's late rally, however, did not carry over into the second set. After trading the first eight points of the stanza, Memphis broke a 4-all tie on a Tulane service error and did not trail again. The Green Wave hung tough for a while, but the Tigers extended the lead as the set progressed before going on to win by 12.
The final set followed a similar script as Tulane and Memphis battled to an 8-8 tied after 16 serves before the Tigers used a 6-1 rally to create some separation. Following a kill by Ray, the Tigers rattled off five straight points and went on to score six of the match's final 11 points to account for the final outcome.
"We came back in set one, but just playing well in part of the set is not enough to win," Momic added. "We gave them a couple of easy points at the end and then we fell apart. Playing one part of one set of a match pretty good is not even close to doing what we need to do."
Kate Gibson led Memphis with 11 kills, followed by Alexis Wesley with seven and the duo of Lilly and Oluchi Agomuo with six apiece. Veronica Zimmerman had 31 of the Tigers' 36 assists and posted the lone double-double of the night with 10 digs. Aleksandra Petronijevic led all players with a match-high 14 digs and Welsey paced the squad with five block assists.
The contest against Memphis was the first of four consecutive home matches for Tulane as the Green Wave will play host to league foes Cincinnati on Sunday, Sept. 28, Houston on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and East Carolina on Friday, Oct. 3. For tickets to those matches, as well as 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.
