Tulane University
Cincinnati
Volleyball Falls In Three To Conference Foe Cincinnati
Oct 16, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/Cincinnati Box Score In PDF Format 
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University volleyball team looked take the next step and get over the hump when it took the court at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse on Friday afternoon when it took on American Athletic Conference foe Cincinnati. Instead, the Green Wave (7-12, 1-6 American) ran into a buzzsaw as the Bearcats (12-6, 4-3 American) roared to a 25-18, 25-10, 25-20 victory to hand Tulane its fifth consecutive loss.
The Wave's previous four losses came in five sets with a point or two here or there could have turned defeat into victory. On Friday, however, the Cincinnati offense connected at a .461 clip with 47 kills while committing just six errors in 89 swings. The Bearcats hit .469 in the opening set (18-3-32), .667 in the second (13-1-8) and .359 in the third (16-2-39) to leave the Big Easy with the win.
"Cincinnati is very solid team with an offense, especially from the left pin, that we couldn't stop, dig or block," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "At the same time, our serve-receive did not allow us to play our usual offense. We came back a little bit in set three, but we were not consistent enough overall. We have to find different ways to teach and play, and not allow ourselves to play at this level. Cincinnati put a lot of pressure on us, but we're too good of a team to play like this."
Junior outside hitter Tea Juric posted her 11th double-double of the season with team-high totals of 10 kills and 10 digs and was the only Green Wave player to post double-digit figures in either category. Sophomore outside Sarah Ray was next for Tulane with nine kills while freshman right-side hitter Aubrey Folk followed with four.
Freshman libero Lisa Mordell was second to Juric defensively with nine digs and rookie setter Elizabeth Hurring had 12 of the team's 26 assists. Tulane had just 1.0 block for the match with a combo stuff by Ray and freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern.
Tulane got off to a good start, scoring the first three points of the match, before Cincinnati used a 4-0 run to spark an 8-1 rally to take an 8-4 lead the Bearcats would not relinquish. The Green Wave trailed by just three at 13-10 midway through the frame, but Cincinnati extended its lead as the set moved along to take the opener by seven.
The second set was all Bearcats as Cincinnati scored four of the first five points and never led by fewer than two the rest of the way. Cincinnati held a commanding 18-10 lead late in the frame and scored the final seven points of the stanza to roll to a 15-point decision.
Following the traditional 10-minute break, the Green Wave were able to regroup and jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the third set. Tulane was able to fend off a pair of Cincinnati rallies as the Bearcats tied the set at 11-, 17-, and 18-all only to see the Green Wave respond each time with a score to stay on top. With the score knotted at 19-19, however, Cincinnati scored two straight points to take its first lead of what proved to be the final frame and gave up just one point down the stretch to clinch the match with a five-point victory.
Carly Nolan led Cincinnati with a match-high 18 kills and Jordan Thompson was next for the Bearcats with 13. Jade Tingelhoff had 41 of the team's 45 assists, Abby Williams paced the Bearcats with 13 digs, and Maya Muldrow headlined the front-line defense with a pair of block assists.
The Green Wave return to action on Sunday, Oct. 18, when they play host to Memphis at 1 p.m. inside Avron B. Fogleman Arena. From there, Tualen will hit the road for matches at UConn on Oct. 23 and at Temple on Oct. 25 before returning home to start the second round of conference play against USF on Oct. 30.
Single-match tickets to all Green Wave home volleyball events are available through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at prices of $6 for adults and $4 for youths (ages 3-12) per contest. Tickets can be purchase by clicking HERE or by calling the Tulane Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
