Volleyball Honors Seniors in Close Five-Set Loss to USF

Friday, November 25

New Orleans, La.

12 p.m. CT

Tulane University

18-14, 10-10

University of South Florida*

19-13, 10-10

USF

Tulane

Volleyball Honors Seniors in Close Five-Set Loss to USF

Nov 25, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS – In the final match of the 2016 season, the Tulane volleyball team would honor six graduating seniors for their accomplishments on and off the court, but the Green Wave dropped a close match-up to the visiting USF Bulls. The Green Wave fell 2-3 on Senior Day, finishing the year with a record of 18-13 and going an even 10-10 in the American Athletic Conference, the team's highest finish to date.

QUOTE

"We owe this group of seniors a great deal. They really did a lot for this program and made this year special. Today was a tough five-setter, but I'm very proud to be able to coach them. Annie Shurtz had a great day, and Kaylie McHugh put on a special performance. We wanted some more wins this season, but the seniors have really laid the foundation for next year, and it's a privilege to be able to coach here with this group of girls."

HOW IT WAS WON

The first outing of the day would set the tone for the five-set match-up between Tulane and USF, with the Green Wave notching the first five points of the set before the Bulls bounced back to even the score at 6-6. It was a back-and-forth battle from there, with eight tied scores and 11 lead changes, but Tulane fell 26-24 after staving off set-point for three straight serves.

Down 0-1, the Green Wave would bounce back to win the second set 25-21, helped by sophomore middle hitter Dayna Kern's four kills in as many attempts. Tulane would head to the locker rooms with the match even at one at the set break.

The third set would also fall in Tulane's favor, with the Green Wave pulling off a closer 25-23 victory to move to 2-1 in the match, but the Bulls would come back to win the fourth set 25-17. For the 13^th time this year, the Green Wave found themselves facing an even 2-2 match score heading to a fifth set.

Tulane would play from behind in the fifth set, with the Bulls opening up with a 4-0 lead. Though the Green Wave took a 10-9 lead on a huge kill by Sarah Strasner, but Tulane would score only one more point on the day, falling 11-15 in set five.

Following the match, head coach Jim Barnes and his staff honored this year's graduating class of six seniors with a ceremony on the court.

On the day, freshman libero Kaylie McHugh set a career high and broke a school record with 37 digs, leading her team to the second-highest single-match dig total in school history with 110.

Junior right-side hitter Sarah Ray led the Tulane offense with 17 kills, just one more than senior outside hitter Tea Juric, who hit .371 on the day. Senior outside hitter Annie Shurtz hit .538 in the match, with seven kills in 13 attempts.

SEASON IN REVIEW

Tulane finished the year with an 18-14 overall record, adding eight wins to the 2015 total. The Green Wave went an even 10-10 in the American Athletic Conference, more than doubling last year's conference win total and recording the highest ever team finish in the American. In addition, Tea Juric would finish her Tulane career with 1517 kills, the third-highest mark in school history, with 4062 attempts, also good for a no. 3 spot in the record book. Sarah Strasner wrapped up her time at Tulane with a .318 career hitting percentage, the third-highest career percentage in the record books. Kaylie McHugh closed out the year with 594 digs, the second-highest single-season total in school history.