Tulane University
UCF
Volleyball Fall In 3-0 Sweep To American Foe UCF
Nov 1, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/UCF Box Score In PDF Format 
NEW ORLEANS - Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Ray had 11 kills and freshman libero Lisa Mordell added 12 digs, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to American Athletic Conference opponent UCF on Sunday afternoon inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
After dropping the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-12, the Green Wave (8-16, 2-10 American) hung tough with the Knights (13-11, 7-5 American) throughout what proved to be the final frame and rallied from a 22-19 deficit to tie the set at 23-all. From there, however, UCF took advantage of a Tulane attack error and clinched the match with a triple block by Jale Hervey, Maddie Haggerty and Anne Richards.
"UCF is a big, physical team that has really good net play," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "In the first set, we served well enough to pull them off the net but they were able to side out at a very high percentage. We just couldn't match them. Our dig numbers were very low. In set two, we collapsed and stopped playing. We decided to play with some heart in the third set, but it was too late by then."
A big reason for the sweep was a solid offensive performance by UCF as the Knights hit .290 for the match with 42 kills and 13 errors in 100 total attacks, including a .500 clip (18-2-32) in the opening set. Conversely, Tulane hit .105 with 33 kills and 22 miscues in 105 swings, including a negative-.036 clip (7-8-28) in the second frame.
UCF out-performed the Green Wave in every statistical category on Sunday, posting 42 kills to Tulane's 33, 41 assists to the Wave's 31, 46 digs to the home team's 38 and 7.5 blocks to go against the Green Wave's 5.0. In addition, UCF came up with the only two service aces of the contest.
Ray was the lone Tulane player to post double-figure kill totals as junior right-side hitter Annie Shurtz was next on the team with seven and junior outside hitter Tea Juric had five. Juric joined Mordell in the double-digit dig club with 10, and freshman right-side hitter Aubrey Folk paced the Green Wave defense with three blocks (all assists). Junior setter Lauren Etta had 13 of the team's 31 assists, followed by junior Ally Frank with 10 and freshman Elizabeth Hurring with six.
The two teams treaded the first 12 points of the match before UCF used a 5-1 rally to take an 11-6 lead it would not relinquish. Tulane rallied from a 19-13 deficit to make it a 22-18 contest late, only to see the Knights score the last three points of the set to take the opener by seven.
The second set was all UCF as the Knights stormed out to a 9-3 lead and never looked back. Tulane got to within four at 14-10 but UCF outscored the Green Wave 11-2 the rest of the way to take a commanding two-sets-to-one lead in the match.
Tulane opened the third set with a 3-0 run and the two teams sat deadlocked at 18-all later in the frame. UCF used a kill by Taylor Wickey and took advantage of a Green Wave ball-handling error to go up 20-18 and appeared to be in control of the contest at 23-21 following a kill by Hervey. Hervey's next two attacks, however, landed out of bounds to tie things up at 23-all before UCF closed things out with back-to-back points to complete the sweep.
Hervey led the UCF offense with a match-high 12 kills and the trio of Haggerty, Wickey and Taylor Gallart followed with seven kills apiece. Miranda Watkins had 20 of the Knights' 41 assists and Dana Faught was next with 18. Jordan Pingel tallied a match-best 19 digs and Richards led the way at the net with four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists).
"We're trying to keep [the team] motivated but we're also trying to figure out why we are not competing skill wise or energy wise with teams that we should be competing with," Momic added. "We'll do the best that we can to coach better and play better until the end of the year."
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Nov. 6, when they continue their four-match homestand against Temple before battling UConn on Sunday, Nov. 8. Those two matches are slated to begin at 7 p.m. (CST) and 1 p.m., respectively. From there, Tulane will start a three-match road swing on Nov. 13 against SMU in Dallas.
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 HEREcalling the Tulane Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
