Tulane University
South Dakota
Volleyball Drops Pair Of Straight-Set Matches At UND Classic
Sep 5, 2014 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/South Dakota Box Score In PDF Format
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - It was a case of good news/bad news for the Tulane University volleyball team when the squad took the court at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Friday for the UND Classic.
On the positive side, the Green Wave played with a mostly healthy team as several players who missed the season-opening weekend with various ailments were on the hardwood for a pair of matches at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. On the down side, however, the infusion of talent was not enough as Tulane dropped a 25-17, 25-10, 25-18 decision to host North Dakota before falling to South Dakota 25-21, 25-16, 25-13.
"In the first match against North Dakota, they just out-played us," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "They were much better digging and we had some streaks of playing well, but overall we just couldn't score. Our offense wasn't functioning and then we just kind of fell apart. In the second match against South Dakota, we just underperformed.
"We're underperforming at many positions and in many skills. We can't seem to put it all together. It's not just one player or one position. We're looking for a way for the whole team to function. From time to time, it's good. It's just very inconsistent. It's more than one skill that's not working right now and we're trying to figure out a way to find the right people who can do their job better, to be in the line-up and making sure everyone is pulling their weight individually to make the whole system work better for us."
Sophomore outside hitter Tea Juric, who missed the season-opening weekend with an ankle injury, was back on the court for the Green Wave. Despite still feeling the lingering effects of her ailment, Juric led the Green Wave offense with 24 combined kills - 10 vs North Dakota and 14 vs South Dakota - to go with 12 digs. Sophomore setter Lauren Etta paced the squad with 45 total assists, including 26 in the opener vs UND - while chipping in with five digs and a service ace.
Defensively, the Green Wave were led by senior libero Grace Weaver with 21 and sophomore defensive specialist Makenzie Frieden - who joined Juric on the shelf last weekend - with 17. Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Strasner paced the front-line defense with five blocks (1 solo, 4 assists) while sophomore outside hitter Annie Shurtz followed with three.
"Tea was struggling [with her injury]," Momic said. "You can tell that she can't jump and hit it as she usually does, but she's doing her best. We'll expect more from her once she gets 100 percent healthy. It was good to have her back. Makenzie also had a good day. Late in the South Dakota match, she gave us a spark and we're definitely going to need that. We're going to need every person to contribute in every way that they can. It's going to good to get to see more people get reps and more people on the court to give us an idea of what the best options are for us going forward."
The Green Wave got off to a good start in the opening set against North Dakota as Tulane scored the first five points before the home team used a 9-3 run to take a three-point advantage. The Wave tied the score at 11-all five serve later, but never held the lead the rest of the way as North Dakota outscored Tulane, 14-6, down the stretch to take the set.
North Dakota's late-set run carried over into the second frame as the home team ran out to a 5-1 start and never looked back. The lead continued to swell as the set moved along en route to UND's 15-point win. In what proved to be the final set, North Dakota set the tone early and ran out to a 7-3 lead. Tulane rallied to tie things up at 10-10, but North Dakota used a 6-1 run to take a 16-11 advantage and outscored Tulane 9-7 the rest of the way to complete the sweep.
The contest against the Coyotes followed a similar script as Tulane put up a good fight early in the opening set as the two teams battled to a 19-all tie through 38 serves. From there, however, South Dakota scored back-to-back points to up by a pair and held the Green Wave to two points the rest of the way for a four-point victory.
Tulane never led in the final two sets as South Dakota jumped out a 7-2 lead in the second stanza and scored the first three points of the final frame to come out on top. The Green Wave never got within four points of the Coyotes in the second set, but fought South Dakota point-for-point early on in the third. After falling behind 3-0, Tulane cut the deficit to one at 8-7 and trailed by just three at 14-11 10 serves later. The Coyotes quieted any talks of a Green Wave comeback with an 8-0 run and allowed just two Tulane points the rest of the way to close things out.
"When we see that we can't close out, we seem to get down on ourselves," Momic added. "The truth is if you don't perform well in basic stuff that each player should perform at their position, you're won't be able to close sets. We need to try and figure out how to individually make each player perform better and that can bring us together to perform better as a team. We have to first figure out how to do that, play fundamental-sound volleyball at every position and understand what the standards are for every position. Right now, we're struggling with that."
The Green Wave close out play in the UND Classic on Saturday with an 11 a.m. showdown with host North Dakoka. From there, Tulane will open the home portion of the 2014 campaign on Thursday, Sept. 11, when the Green Wave play host to Southeastern Louisiana in the opening contest of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic in Devlin Fieldhouse. First serve for that match is 7 p.m.
Season tickets for the 2014 Tulane volleyball team are available for $55 through 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.
