Tulane University
Cincinnati
Volleyball Drops 3-1 Decision To American Foe Cincinnati
Sep 28, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
Tulane/Cincinnati Box Score In PDF Format
NEW ORLEANS - On the stat sheet, the Tulane and Cincinnati volleyball teams battled to a fairly even contest. The Bearcats had just four more kills than the Green Wave (48-44), four more digs (70-66) and one more block (11-10) while each team tallied 43 assists.
Cincinnati, however, came up with the big points when the visitors needed them as the Green Wave dropped a 3-1 decision (25-17, 25-18, 20-25, 25-13) to the American Athletic Conference foe Bearcats on Sunday afternoon in Devlin Fieldhouse. In defeat, Tulane fell to 2-12 on the year and 0-2 in American action. Cincinnati, meanwhile, won for the eighth time in its last nine matches to improve to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in league play.
"It's unforced errors," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said of the difference in Sunday's match. "Look at our hitting percentage. Our outsides should hit .200 or more, but none of them are. We're getting dug on crucial points or we're committing errors. We have numbers, but it's not enough just to have those numbers. It's all about putting the ball away."
As a team, the Green Wave hit just .096 against Cincinnati with 44 kills and 29 errors in 156 swings. The Bearcat offense put together a .176 attack percentage (48-21-153) and hit better than .275 in each of the first two sets. One other disparity on the stat sheet came at the serving stripe where Cincinnati tallied eight aces to Tulane's two.
Freshman right-side hitter Sarah Ray posted the third double-double of her young career with a team-best 14 kills to go with 15 digs while adding three blocks and an assist. Senior middle blocker Anna Wruck joined Ray in the double-digit kill club with 10 and led the Green Wave with six blocks (1 solo, 5 assists), while sophomore outside hitter Tea Juric was next for Tulane offensively with seven kills. Sophomore libero Miah Diirell paced the Tulane defense with a match-high 22 digs and sophomore setter Ally Frank tallied 37 of the team's 43 assists.
"We were inconsistent with our side-out offense, which starts with our serve receive," Momic said. "We just don't have enough passers that are passing at a good percentage right now. Miah has been a steady passer, but nobody else has been consistent and that gets us in trouble. Our side-out offense should be bringing us most of our points, but we've been in trouble from the start. On the other hand, we were inconsistent in our blocking in some game and we definitely need more from our outside hitters.
"Right now, we can't put the ball away even when the passing works. It's all these little details in every skill that we're lacking. If don't figure out how to do these things at a higher percentage, we're going to struggle against anybody we play. Today, we were not able to execute our side-out offense and we didn't get enough kills from our outside hitters."
Tulane got off to a good start and scored the first two points of the match on a Ray kill and a Cincinnati attack error. The two teams battled to a 9-all tie after 18 serves, but the Bearcats broke the deadlock on a Green Wave miscue and never trailed again. Tulane later trailed by just a point a11-10 only to see Cincinnati rattle off five-straight points to pull away.
Set No. 2 was all Bearcats as Cincinnati opened the frame with a 4-0 run and never allowed the Green Wave to get within three the rest of the stanza. Tulane got within striking distance on several occasions and trailed just 19-16 late in the set before the Cats scored six of the set's final eight points to take a commanding two-set lead heading into the break.
Undaunted, Tulane appeared to right the ship in the third set as the Green Wave raced out to a 6-2 lead. Cincinnati rallied to take a 10-8 advantage 10 serves later, but Tulane responded with a 4-0 run and never trailed again. Tulane led by as many as five on three occasions, including a 22-17 advantage late in the set, and staved off a late Bearcat rally to force a fourth set.
In what proved to be the final frame, Tulane and Cincinnati battled to a 5-5 tie before the Bearcats thwarted any talks of a Green Wave comeback with a 6-0 run to take control. Cincinnati extended the lead as the set progressed and scored five of the final eight points to complete the victory.
"All we can do right now is figure out where we can get better," Momic added. "We'll keep working hard. We're not going to quit. Hopefully, in the long run, we'll get the improvements where we need them."
Emma Roberson led three Cincinnati players with double-digit kill totals at 16 while Me'Ashah Nicholson and Ciara Hill added 11 and 10, respectively. Caitlin Ogletree posted a double-double with 37 assists and 17 digs, and Jamie Netisingha added 17 digs of her own from the libero position. Maya Muldrow led the Bearcats' front-line defense with a match-best eight blocks (1 solo, 7 assists).
The Green Wave continue their four-match homestand on Wednesday, Oct. 1, when they play host to Houston at 7 p.m. in Devlin Fieldhouse before taking on 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.
