Tulane University
Nicholls State
Confidence Builds As Volleyball Sweeps Nicholls State, 3-0
Sep 11, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
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NEW ORLEANS - In the days leading up to the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic, Tulane University volleyball standout Tea Juric had been under the weather with an illness and her status for the weekend's matches was very much up in the air.
The junior outside hitter from Kastel Stari, Croatia, however, channeled her inner Willis Reed from the 1970 NBA finals and Kirk Gibson from the 1998 World Series to lift the Green Wave to a 3-0 sweep of Nicholls State on Friday evening in Devlin Fieldhouse. With fatigue in full force after battling flu-like symptoms leading up to the match and helping Tulane post a 3-1 win over Incarnate Word in the morning, Juric posted her second double-double of the day with team-high totals of 10 kills and 15 digs as the Green Wave squeezed out a 26-24 opening-set win before pulling away with 25-19 and 25-11 wins over the final two frames to improve to 3-3 on the young season.
Juric had a lot of help along the way as the Green Wave line-up, which features four true freshmen starters, hit a solid .323 with 38 kills and just eight errors in 93 attacks. Tulane hit a meager .176 (10-4-34) in the first set, but the confidence gained after pulling out a nail-biter continued to build as the match progressed the Wave hit a .333 in the second frame (16-4-36) and tallied an impressive .522 mark (12-0-23) in the final stanza.
"The important thing about confidence is when everyone on the court is giving 100 percent -- going for every ball, chasing down balls heading into the bleachers like we saw today," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "They pumped each other up and it's hard not to give 100 percent when you're all of your teammates are doing the same. Today was a great example of just pushing through.
"We beat Nicholls in three [sets], but winning the opener 26-24 and the third set was 25-11 shows that they never gave up. That's something that is very important to see at this stage of the season. When they see how well they can play, they get confident and realize that this is how we can play. We just have to get better and better from here."
Junior middle blocker Sarah Strasner was next for Tulane offensively against the Colonels with eight kills while freshman right-side hitter Aubrey Folk and sophomore Sarah Ray added seven each. Ray was second to Juric in digs with 12 and freshman libero Lisa Mordell added 11. Freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern, who had six kills and hit .500 with no attack errors in 12 attempts, led the front-line defense with six blocks (1 solo, 5 assists).
Nicholls State, which gave North Carolina State everything it could handle and more in a 3-1 Wolfpack win earlier in the day, played Tulane point-for-point throughout the opening stanza as the two teams sat tied at 23-all late in the set and neither team led a lead of more than three at any point in the stanza. The Green Wave held set point at 24-23 following a Colonel attack error, but Nicholls got a kill from Kayla Mashburn to extend the set if only for a moment. A pair of NSU errors, meanwhile, gave Tulane a two-point win and the Green Wave never trailed by more than one in either of the final two sets.
Tulane and Nicholls State traded the first eight points of the second set before the Green Wave used a 3-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Tulane made it a six-point lead at 13-7 later in the frame and the advantage remained at 16-10 six serves later. The Colonels got to within three at 17-14 and trailed by just four at 23-19 late, but the Wave took advantage of an NSU serving error and Strasner put the contest away with a kill to stake the home team to a two-sets-to-none lead.
After giving up the first score of what proved to be the final set, Tulane rattled off six-unanswered points and led by a five at 12-7 later in the frame. From there, the Green Wave used an 8-0 run to create some breathing room and scored five of the match's final nine points to complete the sweep.
Mashburn led all players with 14 kills while Anna Niederhauser was next for Nicholls State offensively with 10. Alyse Barclay had 32 of the Colonels' 35 assists and Niederhauser completed a double-double with team-best 11 digs.
Tulane continues play in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic on Saturday with an 11:30 a.m. showdown against North Carolina State before closing out the tournament against TCU at 7 p.m. Following the Sugar Bowl 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.
Tickets this weekend's matches and future home Green Wave events can be purchase by clicking HERE or by calling the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
2015 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL COLLEGIATE CLASSIC SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Friday, Sept. 11
Tulane defeated Incarnate Word, 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-15, 25-18)
North Carolina State defeated Nicholls State, 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-12, 25-23)
TCU defeated Incarnate Word, 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-20)
Tulane defeated Nicholls State, 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-11)
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.
