Tulane University
New Orleans
Big Runs Lift Volleyball Past Cross-Town Foe UNO, 3-1
Sep 29, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
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Tulane/UNO Box Score In PDF Format 
NEW ORLEANS - In a momentum-driven sport like college volleyball making runs on offense and withstanding them on defense can often be the difference between winning and losing. For the Tulane University volleyball team on Tuesday evening against the University of New Orleans, it was the Green Wave who weathered the storm the best and made the biggest pushes in key moments as the home team defeated the cross-town Privateers, 3-1 at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
Taking advantage of a 5-0 run and a pair of 4-0 rallies, the Wave won the opening set, 25-18, only to see UNO follow up a 10-0 streak with a 4-0 run in the second frame to come away with a 25-15 decision to knot the match at one set apiece. Tulane, however, bounced back from the 10-point loss and used a 6-0 rally late in the third stanza to take the set, 25-16, and set the tone early in what proved to be the final frame with a 9-0 run to clinch the match with a 25-19 victory.
With the win, Tulane evened its 2015 record at 7-7 and posted its 12th consecutive win over the Privateers dating back to the 2001 season. UNO, which last defeated the Green Wave 3-2 back on Aug. 31, 2001, dropped its third consecutive match to fall to 8-8 on the year.
"Coming away with a win is the most important thing," Tulane head coach Sinisa Momic said. "We played a much-improved UNO team which showed great fight, maximized the potential that they have and played us tough. We were kind of surprised the way they responded from set one to set two. We were not as consistent and we relied on individuals to get the win for us too much in that set. That's something that we have to work on, but give credit to UNO because they played a good match. We came out on top, and that's what matters."
A big reason for Tulane's runs throughout the match was a solid performance from the serving strip as the Green Wave finished the match with 13 aces. The Green Wave's ace total was the most since posting 13 in a 3-0 win over Binghampton on Aug. 28, 2011, at the Tiger Invitational in Columbia, Missouri. Junior defensive specialists Makenzie Frieden and Miah Diirell led the way at the stripe with five and three aces, respectively, and junior setter Ally Frank added a pair.
As a team, Tulane hit .236 (47-18-123), including a .476 and .444 marks in the first and third sets, respectively. The Green Wave defense held the Privateers to a .195 clip (53-24-149), including identical .105 attack percentages over the final two frames.
Junior outside hitter Tea Juric posted her seventh double-double of the season with a match-high 18 kills to go with 19 digs, and freshman libero Lisa Mordell led all players with 20 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Ray followed Juric offensively with 13 kills and hit .393 for the match after committing just a pair of hitting errors in 28 swings. Freshman setter Elizabeth Hurring came off the bench to log 25 of the Green Wave's 44 assists and the duo of Juric and freshman middle blocker Dayna Kern shared team-high blocking honors with four each (1 solo, 3 assists).
"Tea is stepping up as a leader," Momic said. "She's controlling more of the court in the back and she has accepted the challenge. She's getting set the most and she came up with some good kills for us at the end. That's what your best player and team captain should do. We just have to make sure that we don't rely on individuals too much in the future. We have to develop our team play more."
The two teams traded the first eight points of the match before the Green Wave used a 5-0 run to break a 4-all tie to take the lead for good and cruise to a seven-point win. It appeared as if it would be more the same in the second set as Tulane held an 8-5 lead early in the contest. UNO, however, rattled off 10-unasnwered points to make a 15-8 lead and thwarted any talk of a Green Wave comeback with a 4-0 run later to turn a 16-11 lead into a nine-point lead en route to a 10-point decision.
Following the customary 10-minute break, the Privateers stormed out to a 5-2 lead in the third set but Tulane battled back to tie the frame at 5-5 and the score remained deadlocked at 9-all eight serves later. A UNO error and a Juric kill created a bit of breathing room for Tulane and later turned a 17-15 lead into a 21-15 advantage courtesy of a 6-0 run to cruise to a nine-point victory.
The final set, meanwhile, was all Tulane as the Green Wave blew the frame open with a 9-0 run early on to race out to a 14-3 lead. UNO refused to go away quietly and cut the deficit to four at 23-19, but Tulane set up match point on Juric's final kill of the night and clinched the contest on a tandem block by Juric and sophomore middle blocker Maggie Singleton.
"When UNO could pass well, they ran their middle very well," Momic added. "At some points we were not able to stop them, but overall, we had a good serving match. Kenzie and Miah got on some runs, which was good to see. We really served well throughout the match."
Blessing Dunn led three UNO players with double-figure kill totals with 14 while Rondolyn Bryant and Kaitlyn Grice added 12 each. Blessing completed a double-double with a team-best 15 digs, as did Celeste Ramirez with 41 assists and 10 digs. Ramirez shared the blocking lead with Grice with four assists apiece.
The Green Wave return to action over the weekend when they head to Florida for American Athletic Conference showdowns at UCF on Friday and at USF on Sunday before returning home to face Houston on Wednesday, Oct. 7. That match is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
Single-match tickets to all Tulane 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 Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE (9283).
