Volleyball Travels to Take on Tulsa, Wichita State

TULANE GREEN WAVE (13-4 OVERALL, 3-1 AMERICAN)
When:	Friday, Oct. 11 \| 7 p.m at Tulsa (10-7 Overall, 3-1 The American) Sunday, Oct 13 \| 1 p.m at Wichita State (4-12 Overall, 1-3 The American)
Where:	Tulsa, Okla. \| Reynolds Center Wichita, Kan. \| Koch Arena
Watch:	T ulsa W ichita State
Stats:	Tulsa W ichita State
Notes:	Tulsa-Wichita State
Social:	T witter \| Instagram \| Facebook

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Tulane Green Wave volleyball team will close out a string of three consecutive matches on the road this weekend as the team travels to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the Wichita State Shockers this Friday and Sunday.

Tulane will take on Tulsa Friday night at 7 p.m. in Oklahoma, making the short trip up to Kansas to take on Wichita State at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

The Green Wave are 13-4 overall on the season and 3-1 in American Athletic Conference play, currently tied for second place in the division with the Golden Hurricane, with Houston sitting atop the division with a 4-0 league mark. Last weekend Tulane fell to Houston at home, rebounding on Sunday to earn a clean sweep of the UConn Huskies in Storrs.

On Monday, the NCAA released the initial RPI rankings of the season and Tulane is one of six teams from The American to place in the top 100. The Green Wave is listed at No. 69, with Friday's opponent in Tulsa at No. 65. UCF is the highest ranked team at No. 28, followed by Cincinnati at No. 31, SMU at No. 78, and Temple at No. 86.

Tulane was able to produce offensively to its usual standards on Sunday against the Huskies, but the team's defense still continued to shine as the group held both opponents to a hitting percentage of .121 in part thanks to the 3.19 blocks per set average and 17.62 digs per set.

On Monday, sophomore hitter Yvette Burcescu was named to the league's weekly honor roll as she finished last week with two double-digit kill performances, as she is now hitting .211 on the season with 130 kills. She was joined on Sunday by junior Kristen Thompson who hit .571 and had eight kills and no errors against the Huskies in her best match of the season to date.

Amanda Giardina leads Tulane with 330 assists and 5.08 assists per set, while Jenna Ibieta has 281 assists and is averaging 4.93 assists per set this season.

Kayla Dinkins is four blocks away from reaching 100 for the season, as the sophomore is averaging 1.52 per set which still ranks in the top 10 nationally in the category. Dinkins is also second on the team in kills with 136.

Senior Kaylie McHugh leads Tulane with 303 digs this year, averaging 4.59 per set while Makala Heidelberg is second on the group with 207 and averaging 3.57 per set.

The Golden Hurricane are 10-7 on the season, splitting games with a win over Memphis and a loss to SMU last weekend. Tulsa holds a slim advantage in the all-time series against the Green Wave leading 16-15, winning last year's only meeting in three sets.

Wichita State has played a challenging schedule in 2019 against the likes of perennial powers Texas, Nebraska, BYU, Creighton and Penn State. The Shockers are 4-12 overall and 1-3 in the league with their only win coming against Memphis in five sets. Sunday's meeting will be the fourth all-time between Tulane and Wichita State, with the opposition winning the last two meetings.

Single-game tickets for the 2019 season can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging into TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

Follow Tulane volleyball on social media at @GreenWaveVB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Follow Tulane Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.

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Volleyball Travels to Take on Tulsa, Wichita State

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Players Mentioned

Yvette Burcescu

Kayla Dinkins

Amanda Giardina

Makala Heidelberg

Jenna Ibieta

Kaylie McHugh

Kristen Thompson

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