Volleyball To Wrap First Round Of American Play Over Weekend
Oct 22, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University volleyball team will look to wrap up the first round of American Athletic Conference action on a positive note over the weekend as the Green Wave hit the road to take on Connecticut on Friday and Temple on Sunday. First serve for those matches are slated for 6 p.m. (CDT) and 1 p.m., respectively.
The Wave, however, will have to overcome a pair of recent trends as the team is without a road win in conference play so far in 2015 and have dropped its last six overall matches. The skid does not mean the team has not been competitive as Tulane has played six five-set league matches. The Wave, however, has managed to win just one of the contests that have gone the distance.
"We have to show the same desire that we've been showing, but we have to play fundamentally better and more sound. That's when we can expect to get over this hump. That's as simple as it gets. It's just getting better at our skills. We've been working hard on improving things on our side of the net all season and I think the team is capable of breaking out this weekend."
Tulane hits the road 7-13 overall and 1-7 in American action. The last time out, the Green Wave split the first four sets with Memphis last Sunday in New Orleans before dropping a 15-13 decision in the final frame. As a team, Tulane is averaging 11.77 kills, 11.04 assists, 1.23 service aces, 14.65 assists and 2.21 blocks per set while hitting .209 with 918 kills and 379 errors in 2,575 total swings.
Junior outside hitter Tea Juric leads the offense with 3.69 kills per set, followed by sophomore outside hitter Sarah Ray at 2.86 and junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner at 1.95. Tulane has used three setters so far in 2015 with freshman Elizabeth Hurring, junior Ally Frank and junior Lauren Etta sporting respective assist-per-set averages of 7.79, 7.50 and 3.64.
Ray paces the Wave with 18 service aces and freshman libero Lisa Mordell headlines the defense with 3.79 digs per set. Strasner and freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern share the team lead in blocks with 0.95 stuffs per set apiece.
UConn comes into Friday's match 9-10 on the year, 3-5 in American play and riding the crest of a two-match winning streak after posting five-set victories over Temple and East Carolina last week in Storrs, Connecticut. As a team, the Huskies are averaging 12.87 kills, 12.08 assists, 1.26 service aces, 15.17 digs and 2.00 blocks per set while posting a .197 attack percentage courtesy of 927 kills and 419 errors in 2,577 attempts.
Jade Strawberry leads a balanced UConn attack with 2.92 kills per set while Kenya Cason follows at 2.60 and Erika Thomas is next at 2.26. Rebecca Rivera and Emma Turner have split time at setter throughout the season and sport averages of 5.75 and 5.08 assists per set, respectively. Strawberry paces the team with 21 aces, Kennedy Arundel has a team-best 4.09 digs per set and Immanuel Anagu headlines the front-line defense with 1.15 blocks per set.
Temple, who will play host to Houston on Friday, enter the weekend, 15-5 overall, 6-2 in league play and fresh off a 3-1 win over East Carolina last Sunday in Philadelphia. As a team, the Owls are averaging 14.18 kills, 13.12 assists, 1.23 service aces, 14.87 digs and 2.14 blocks per set while hitting .270 on the strength of 993 kills and 347 errors in 2,397 total attacks.
Irem Asci leads four Temple players averaging at least 2.00 kills per set with a 3.87 average, followed by Tyler Davis at 2.87, Izzy Rapacz at 2.59 and Kirsten Overton at 2.41. Sandra Sydlik paces the Owls with 11.12 assists per set and Dara Peric leads the team with 21 aces. Kayla Yingling has a team-best 4.96 digs-per-set average and Overton leads the squad defensively at the net with 1.03 blocks per set.
Following the weekend road trip, the Green Wave return to action on Friday, Oct. 30, when they begin the second round of conference play against USF at 7 p.m. inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse. The contest against the Bulls is the first of a four-match homestand as Tulane will play UCF on Nov. 1, Temple on Nov. 6 and UConn on Nov. 8.
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).
