Tulane University
UConn
Volleyball Falls In Slugfest To American Foe UConn, 3-2
Nov 8, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
NEW ORLEANS - It was a contest that more resembled a prize fight than a volleyball match, and when the dust settled following a five-set slugfest, the Tulane University volleyball team found itself on the wrong side of a 3-2 decision to American Athletic Conference foe UConn on Sunday afternoon inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
After watching a sizeable lead disappear in a 26-24, opening-set loss to the Huskies, the Green Wave won the next two sets 25-20 and 25-17. From there, however, UConn evened the match with a 25-20 victory in the fourth stanza and withstood a furious Tulane rally late in the fifth to hold on for a 15-13 decision. In defeat, the Wave fell to 8-17 on the year and 3-11 in league play. UConn, meanwhile, improved to 14-11 overall and 8-6 in conference action.
"The whole match was point-for-point and run-for-run on both sides," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "There was good blocking on both sides. Pretty much, it came down to who was going to execute at the end of the match, and that's been kind of the story of the year for us.
"I give a lot of credit to our girls. They really gave it their all. We just came up a couple of points short. At the end, UConn ended up passing and digging a little bit better. We had our opportunities to close, especially in game one, but we didn't do it. Overall, we played some good volleyball and the girls played extremely well."
With the match tied at two sets apiece, UConn scored the first two points of the fifth frame and held an 8-5 advantage at the traditional switching of benches. Tulane cut the deficit to one at 9-8 and appeared to be down just a pair seven serves later when a mad scramble momentarily turned into a Green Wave kill. The team was called for a double-contact, however, and UConn held match point at 14-10. Undaunted, Tulane got a kill from right-side hitter Aubrey Folk to make it a three-point affair before junior outside hitter Tea Juric posted back-to-back kills to make it 14-13 and force the Huskies to call a timeout. From there, UConn was able to side out and put the match away on a kill by Immanuella Anagu.
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Ray led a balanced Tulane attack with 16 kills while Juric and junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner added 10 each. Ray and Juric completed double-doubles with 14 and 11 digs, respectively, and freshman libero Lisa Mordell paced the defense with a match-high 16 digs. Strasner led a 15.0 team-blocking effort with eight assisted stuffs while freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern was next with seven and the tandem of Juric and Folk had six apiece. Junior setter Lauren Etta, meanwhile, had 22 of the Green Wave's 52 assists.
Tulane finished with a .207 attack percentage (55 kills, 25 errors, 145 swings) to UConn's .152 clip (57-32-164), but the Huskies were able to get key points when they needed them down the stretch to escape with the win.
"We have to play the 6-2 system, just like UConn does, and the idea is to spread it around on offense," Momic said. "We try to keep it simple and use multiple hitters. I think the system works for us and helps give us extra points. But it comes down to how you execute at the end. Where was your pass at the end? Were we setting well? It all comes down to a couple of points at the end, but it could just as easily gone the other way, too."
Tulane got off to a good start as the Green Wave rolled out to an 11-5 advantage and led 17-10 midway through the opening set. UConn rallied to tie the set at 23 and Tulane held set point following a tandem block by Folk and Strasner, but the Huskies got consecutive kills by Kenya Cason and Erika Thomas before Thomas and Anagu combined for a block to take the first set by a pair.
Unfazed by the early defeat, Tulane scored the first eight points of the second stanza and never trailed. UConn stormed back to tie the frame at 16-, 17-, and 19-all only to see the Green Wave outscore the Huskies 6-1 the rest of the way to tie the match at one set each.
The two teams traded the first 20 points of the third set before UConn used a 5-2 rally to turn a 10-10 tie into a three-point lead. Tulane answered with a 6-0 run to take a 19-15 lead and scored five of the period's final seven points to take a two-sets-to-one lead.
It was a similar story in the fourth frame as the two teams sat deadlocked at 14-14 after 28 serves and the Green Wave created some separation with a 4-1 run to take an 18-15 lead. Tulane would score just two more points the rest of the Way as UConn went on to win by five to set up the dramatic fifth set.
Jade Strawberry led UConn with 13 kills and Anagu was close behind with 12. Strawberry was one of two Huskies to post a double-double with 15 digs to go with her kill total while Rebecca Rivera had 21 assists and a dozen digs. Anagu (1 solo, 6 assists) and Tosin Adeniyi (3 solo, 4 assists) paced UConn's front-line defense with seven blocks each, and Thomas finished with six.
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Nov. 13, when they open a three-match road swing at SMU. From there, Tulane will play at Tulsa on Nov. 15 and at Houston on Nov. 18 before closing out the home portion of the 2015 schedule on Nov. 22 against East Carolina. Prior to that contest, Tulane will honor senior outside hitter Amy Lanski with a special ceremony.
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).
