Tulane University
Montana State
Volleyball Drops Season Opener To Montana State, 3-1
Aug 28, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Tulane/Montana State Box Score In PDF Format 
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Junior setter Ally Frank tallied a career-high 56 assists and the pin-hitting duo of sophomore Sarah Ray and junior Tea Juric each recorded double-doubles, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped the season opener to Montana State, 3-1, on Friday morning in the 27th Annual Bearkat Volleyball Invitational at Bernard C. Johnson Coliseum.
The Green Wave dropped the opening set, 25-18, and saw a late lead evaporate in the second to fall 25-23. From there, however, Tulane rallied to win the third set, 25-23, and was poised to force a winner-take-all, race-to-15 as the Wave held a 23-20 advantage in what proved to be the final set. The Bobcats, however, used a 4-0 run to take match point and scored on two of the final three serves to close things out with a 26-24 decision.
Ray led the Tulane offense with a match-best 19 kills with Juric following with 17, and the pair both added 16 digs apiece. Junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner rounded out three Green Wave players with double-digit kill totals with 13 and finished the match with a .440 attack percentage after committing just two errors in 25 swings.
Junior libero Miah Diirell paced the Green Wave defense with a match-best 23 digs while Strasner and freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern added two blocks each. Franks' assist total surpassed her previous career high of 54 against South Florida in a five-set match last Nov. 23 in Devlin Fieldhouse.
As a team, Tulane hit .198 with 60 kills and 26 errors in 172 total attacks. Errors proved costly in the early portion of the match as the Wave had nine in the opening set and another seven in the second before settling down to commit just 10 over the final two frames.
Loni Kreun led a balanced Montana State offense with 15 kills and was one of two Bobcats to tally a double-double as she also paced the defense with 18 digs. Back-up setter Kasey Alterman had 15 digs to go with 11 assists, and starter Katie Harrington led the squad with 21 of the team's 51 helpers. Kiana Black and Eli Svisco were a force at the net defensively for Montana State and shared team-high blocking honors with six each.
The Green Wave will continue play in the Bearkat Invitational with a 7 p.m. showdown against host Sam Houston State and will close out play in the tournament on Saturday against Prairie View A&M and UTSA. First serve for those contests is slate for 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.
Tulane's first home match of the 2015 campaign will be on Friday, Sept. 11, when the Green Wave play Incarnate Word in the Sugar Bowl Classic opener. The Wave will battle Nicholls State later that day before facing North Carolina State and TCU in day two of the event.
Season tickets for the 2015 Tulane volleyball team are available for $55 through the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office. Single-match tickets are also for sale at prices of $6 for adults and $4 for youths (ages 3-12). Tickets can be purchase by clicking HERE or by calling the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
