Tulane Volleyball Returns Home to Host Cincinnati, ECU

TULANE GREEN WAVE (14-5 OVERALL, 4-2 AMERICAN)
When:	Friday, Oct. 18 \| 7 p.m vs. Cincinnati (14-4, 6-0 The American) Sunday, Oct 20 \| 12 p.m vs. ECU (14-5, 2-4 The American)
Where:	New Orleans, La. \| Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse
Watch:	Cincinnati ECU
Stats:	C incinnati ECU
Notes:	C incinnati-ECU
Social:	T witter \| Instagram \| Facebook

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Tulane volleyball team returns home this weekend for a pair of cross-division matches on Friday and Sunday with the Green Wave hosting the Cincinnati Bearcats and ECU Pirates at Fogelman in Devlin.

Friday's contest against east division-leading Cincinnati is set for 7 p.m. in New Orleans, while Sunday's contest against ECU will be at 12 p.m. and will be televised live on CST with Leah Secondo and Andrew Beyer on the call. There will also be an ESPN3 stream available for viewers outside of the CST viewing area.

For the final two home matches for the month of October, the team is still collecting donations of $5 or more for the Side-Out Foundation which raises money for breast cancer survivors and those currently fighting the disease. Fans who donate to the cause will receive a pink Tulane volleyball shirt at the marketing table near the entrance to the arena.

The Green Wave come into this weekend's matches with a 14-5 overall record, sitting in the west division of The American with a 4-2 mark. Tulane is currently tied with Tulsa and SMU for second place, while Houston leads the pack with a 6-0 mark in conference play so far.

Tulane split a pair of matches last weekend on the road to close a string of three away from New Orleans, falling to the Golden Hurricane in four sets last Friday, while rallying to defeat the Wichita State Shockers in five sets by taking the final three after dropping the first two.

The team has needed to get production from a host of areas to continue to weather strong competition in the league, with none being more prevalent than in the win over the Shockers. Tulane got solid performances late from players such as Mia Primavera, Markenzie Benoit and Lizzy Stefanov stepping in to help energize the team and rally to the victory, pushing the team to 5-0 in matches following a loss.

Another player that has helped bolster the Tulane offensive attack has been junior Kristen Thompson. After missing the bulk of last season due to injury, the Dutchtown, Louisiana, native has become a key offensive threat where against Wichita State she had 13 kills and 20 combined for the weekend, the third most for any player on the team last week.

Lexie Douglas continues to lead the team in kills with 202 on the season, averaging 2.66 kills per set. Douglas also leads the team in service aces with 25 and in double-doubles with eight.

Sophomore Kayla Dinkins leads the team with 108 total blocks this year, as against Wichita State she produced her second double figure block performance of the season with 10 in the victory. Dinkins is also hitting .288 on the year with 2.22 kills per set.

Amanda Giardina had 48 assists in the two matches last week and for the season she has 378 for an average of 5.11 per set. Jenna Ibieta had 305 and is averaging 5.00 per set, while seeing time in the five-setter on Sunday, Taylor Henigsman is averaging 4.06 per set and had a double-double with 23 assists and 13 digs.

Kaylie McHugh, who was named to the league's weekly honor roll on Monday, leads Tulane with 347 digs and 4.63 digs per set. Last week she averaged nearly five digs per set, better than an assist per set and earned three of the Green Wave's seven service aces.

Cincinnati comes in as arguably the league's hottest team sitting at 14-4 on the season and 6-0 against the conference. After dropping their final non-conference contest to a now-ranked Louisville side, the Bearcats have only dropped one set since league play began.

Powering the Bearcats is two-time conference player of the year Jordan Thompson, who comes in leading the nation in points, points per set and kills per set, as Cincinnati has one of the top offenses in the country.

The Pirates are 14-5 on the season, sitting at 2-4 in conference action. ECU won their first five matches to start the year, and after taking their only non-conference loss to Wake Forest, proceeded to win eight in a row before opening conference play against Cincinnati on September 27. Their only two wins in the conference have come via sweeps of USF and UConn.

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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Tulane Volleyball Returns Home to Host Cincinnati, ECU

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Players Mentioned

Markenzie Benoit

Kayla Dinkins

Lexie Douglas

Amanda Giardina

Taylor Henigsman

Jenna Ibieta

Kaylie McHugh

Mia Primavera

Lizzy Stefanov

Kristen Thompson

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