Volleyball To Host Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic
Sep 10, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
Coach Momic's Comments Entering The Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University volleyball team will open the home portion of the 2015 season on Friday, Sept. 11, when the Green Wave host the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic beginning with an 11:30 a.m. showdown against Incarnate Word in Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Green Wave will also square off against Nicholls State on Friday at 7 p.m. before taking on North Carolina State and TCU on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively. The 2015 event marks the 14th time since 2000 the Sugar Bowl has sponsored a home tournament for Tulane, including the 2005 tournament which was relocated to College Station, Texas, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"This is our home opener and we're playing in a good tournament. We're playing four matches, when we usually play three [in a non-conference weekend], so it's going to be a lot of volleyball. It's going to be very competitive and I expect it to be a good tournament across the board with some very high-level teams participating."
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), and the gates at Devlin Fieldhouse will open one hour prior to the first match each day of this weekend's tournament.
For fans unable make it to Devlin Fieldhouse, live stats for all eight matches of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic are available on-line at the official website of Tulane Athletics, www.TulaneGreenWave.com, for free via GameTracker. In addition, live video of the Tulane matches will be provided for free on the internet courtesy of the Tulane All-Access Pass.
Tulane, which enjoyed a week away from intercollegiate play last week, enters the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic 1-3 on the young season after defeating Prairie View A&M while falling to Montana State, UTSA and host Sam Houston at the Bearkat Volleyball Invitational back on Aug. 28-29 in Huntsville, Texas.
As a team, the Green Wave are averaging 12.08 kills, 11.54 assists, 1.15 service aces, 14.15 digs and 1.54 blocks per set while hitting .195 on the strength of 157 kills and 71 errors in 442 total attacks. Junior outside hitter Tea Juric is one of four Tulane players averaging at least 2.00 kills per set with a 3.54 average, followed by sophomore right-side hitter Sarah Ray with 3.31, freshman right-side hitter Aubrey Folk with 2.67and junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner with 2.08 per frame.
Junior setter Ally Frank paces the Green Wave with 10.92 assists per stanza and Ray headlines the squad with six aces. Defensively, freshman Lisa Mordell has a team-best 52 digs in 13 sets of action, and Strasner leads the front-line unit with 0.92 blocks per set.
"We've competed at practice at a high level and that has given us, as coaches, a chance to which players can be the most productive on the team," Momic said. "We've made some changes and we're going to see how that goes tomorrow. It was a productive two weeks and it gave us some time to reflect on our season-opening tournament. We're in good shape. This will be four matches that will push us hard both mentally and physically. It'll give us a chance to play more people so we can see where we are now and just keep improving."
Incarnate Word enters the weekend 2-4 on the year after sandwiching wins over UT-Rio Grande Valley and Southern last weekend in Edinburg, Texas, and will play TCU on Friday at 4:30 p.m. and North Carolina State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in addition to the tournament opener against Tulane. Nicholls State, which will also play TCU on Saturday at 2 p.m., comes to town with a 3-3 record to date and fresh off a 3-0 sweep of Jackson State in its final match of Sawyer Camillo Memorial Classic in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Both North Carolina State and TCU, meanwhile, come to New Orleans with identical 5-1 records after two weeks of play. The Wolfpack are riding a two-match winning streak after downing Jacksonville University and Delaware in the final two contests of the N.C. State Hilton Garden Inn Cary Classic in Raleigh, North Carolina, last weekend while the Horned Frogs opened season with straight-set wins over Abiline Christian, Texas State, UTEP, Dartmouth and San Diego State before falling to nationally-ranked San Diego last Saturday on the West Coast.
"It's four matches that we have to prepare well for, especially the second day when we're more tired and we play some better teams on paper," Momic added. "It'll be a challenge for us, but it will make us better. I don't think there's a weak opponent in this tournament, and we can both learn and improve from all four of them."
Following the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic, the Green Wave will head to Beaumont, Texas, to participate in the Cardinal Classic where Tulane will play Jackson State on Sept. 18 before facing Texas-Rio Grande Valley and host Lamar on Saturday. From there, Tulane will open American Athletic Conference action on Friday, Sept. 25, against Tulsa in Devlin Fieldhouse.
Tickets this weekend's matches and future home Green Wave events can be purchase by calling the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283) or log onto the internet at https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/tulane/EN/buy/details/VB15.
2015 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL COLLEGIATE CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 11
Tulane vs Incarnate Word -- 11:30 a.m.
Nicholls State vs North Carolina State -- 2:00 p.m.
Incarnate Word vs TCU -- 4:30 p.m.
Tulane vs Nicholls State -- 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 12
Tulane vs North Carolina State -- 11:30 a.m.
TCU vs Nicholls State -- 2:00 p.m.
North Carolina State vs Incarnate Word -- 4:30 p.m.
Tulane vs TCU -- 7:00 p.m.
