Tulane University
East Carolina
Volleyball Picks Up Win in Final Home Match Over East Carolina
Nov 22, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS – It had to go the distance, but Tulane's volleyball squad picked up a victory in five sets against American Athletic Conference foe East Carolina on Sunday at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse during the final home match of the season for the Green Wave.
Tulane (10-20 overall, 4-14 The American) dropped the first set, 25-17, to East Carolina (11-18 overall, 4-14 The American) before picking up a huge win in set two in extra points at 28-26. The two teams traded the next two sets, with Tulane winning the third, 25-19, and East Carolina returning the favor with the same score before the Green Wave notched the victory, 15-12, in the last game.
"Resiliency and pure effort by our girls is what won us today's match," stated Tulane volleyball head coach Sinisa Momic. "We fought through a lot today. We corrected some things that we were not doing well early and we changed some things, defensively. We used six hitters, and that's something that we benefitted from. But all of the credit goes to our girls. Their effort in another five-set match was great."
Both teams put up a good fight in the first set, and Tulane led midway through the action. But the Pirates rattled off six-straight points to take an 18-16 lead before ending the set on a 7-0 run. The Pirates hit .333 as a team in the first set.
Things were different in set two, as Tulane hung on during an extremely close game. The Green Wave had match point at 24-21, but ECU scored three straight to tie it up. After the Pirates took a 25-24 lead, junior Tea Juric recorded a kill before a service error gave the Pirates another lead at 25-25. However, Juric and sophomore Sarah Ray posted back-to-back kills to wrap up the set at 28-26.
Poor hitting plagued the Pirates in set three, with ECU hitting a paltry .162 to Tulane's .220. The fortunes were reversed in set four, as the Pirates escaped with the win to send the match to a winner-take-all fifth set.
Tulane led from start to finish in the fifth set, with junior Annie Shurtz coming through in the clutch with three kills during the action. Juric and junior Sarah Strasner added two kills each.
Four Tulane players posted double-digit kill marks with Strasner and freshman Dayna Kern pacing the team with 14 each. Shurtz and Juric added 11 and 10, respectively. Juric notched another double-double with 13 digs, while junior Ally Frank (17 digs) and freshman Lisa Mordell (16) leading the way in that category.
Junior Lauren Etta notched a team-high 25 assists with Frank posting 23. At the net, Kern recorded four blocks on the afternoon.
Prior to the match, the Green Wave honored their lone senior, Amy Lanski, with a framed jersey for her contributions to the program.
Two more road matches await the Green Wave, as Tulane will take on Memphis (Nov. 25) and Cincinnati (Nov. 27) on the road to close out the season.
"We hope the momentum from today's match will carry over into the final weekend," added Momic.
