Volleyball Falls to ECU in Five Sets Sunday

Sunday, October 20

New Orleans, La.

12 PM

Tulane University

15-6, 5-3American

ECU

15-6, 3-5American

East Carolina

Tulane

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Oct 20, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – After taking the opening two sets Sunday afternoon, the Tulane volleyball team would not be able to corral the charging ECU Pirates who took the final three sets to defeat the Green Wave 14-25, 23-25, 25-17, 29-27, 15-8 inside Fogelman in Devlin.

Tulane (15-6, 5-3 The American) opened the match brightly and took the first two sets in convincing fashion, but after that the Pirates (15-6, 3-5) began to grow into the match, eventually stealing the momentum in a see-saw fourth set that needed extra points. ECU rode that momentum into taking a big lead in the fifth set that Tulane would not be able to overcome in the end.

"This weekend we played five great sets. We played three great sets against Cincinnati and the first two sets here we played dominant," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We still are not completely 100 percent locked in yet. We were for five sets, but we need to be for six sets every weekend and that's our goal next weekend to try and win both matches."

Lexie Douglas finished the match leading Tulane with 16 kills, adding nine digs, a block and a service ace. Makala Heidelberg finished with a double-double as she had 12 kills and 15 digs, with two aces and two blocks.

Lauryn Green had nine kills and hit .200 with four blocks and two digs, while Kayla Dinkins had eight kills and hit .467 for the Green Wave, tying for the match high in blocks with eight against the Pirates.

Taylor Henigsman finished with a match-high 31 assists, with four digs, two aces and a kill, while Amanda Giardina finished with 25 assists and five digs. Senior Kaylie McHugh led all players with 25 digs on Sunday, adding three service aces and four assists.

While there were only two ties and a single lead change within the first few points of the set, the early portion of the match remained close between the two sides. However, Tulane was able to stake an early claim as with the score at 9-8, Tulane got a kill from Kristen Thompson and went on a 5-1 run to force the Pirates into a timeout leading 14-9.

The Wave were nearly flawless for the rest of the frame, rattling off six of the next 10 points after that to go up 20-13 and have ECU call its final timeout of the first set. The visitors would be unable to do much to keep Tulane from cruising to the win, with the team closing out the first earning five of the next six after that to claim a 25-14 set victory.

Set two proved to be much more competitive between the two teams, featuring 11 ties and six lead changes during the first 28 points of the frame. With Tulane leading 14-13, ECU rattled off three points to go up 16-14, and after a Dinkins kill, ECU got two more after that to go up 18-15 and force the Green Wave into using a timeout.

The regroup seemed to do Tulane a host of favors, as ECU couldn't keep the Wave from making a big comeback as the team went on a 7-2 run, including a 4-0 swing, to go up 22-20 and force ECU into a timeout. The Pirates scored the first two points out of the break as Tulane called its final timeout with the set tied at 22-22, but Tulane rebounded by taking two of the final three points to take the second 25-23 and go up 2-0 in the match.

ECU looked at another hot start to open the third set, earning five of the first eight points to go up 5-3, but Tulane battled back to keep things close which led to five of the six ties and three of the four lead changes that happened within the first 20 points.

A kill from Dinkins pull Tulane to within one of ECU at 13-12, but the Pirates ran off three consecutive points to go up 18-13. For the rest of the set, however, Tulane would not be able to get over that hump to threaten the Pirate lead, as ECU kept the match alive by winning the third set 25-17.

After falling behind and not being able to recover in the third, the Green Wave left little doubts about wanting to come out stronger in the fourth and rolled off the first three points, eventually taking 11 of the first 16 points in the frame to force the Pirates into a timeout trailing 11-5. Tulane got a boost from Erika Hansel, who produced three kills on her first three swings of the match in the set and six in all in the fourth alone.

ECU could have folded, but to the Pirates' credit they didn't after being down by such a big margin early. Down 15-9, the visitors went on an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the set going up 17-15 as the Green Wave had to call both of their timeouts during that point.

That run ended at 10, as ECU went up four at 19-15. Facing the threat of going to a fifth set Tulane went to work and rattled off five of the next six to tie the set at 20-20. That run ignited what would prove to be the most exciting stretch of the match as the Pirates would get to set point eventually going up 24-22, but not before the Wave got kills from Heidelberg and Hansel to knot the set at 24-all.

It set off a tense back-and-forth between the two where Tulane had a chance to close out the match going up 26-25 and 27-26, but ECU weathered and got the final three points it needed to push the match to a fifth with a 29-27 win.

ECU couldn't have asked for a better start, taking each of the first three points and six of the first seven. By the time Tulane got it's fourth point it was down 10-4, but fortunately for the Green Wave the team got three more after that to cut the Pirate lead to 10-7.

The Pirates called a timeout and out of the break went back on the attack and got the next three points to go up 13-7 over Tulane. A kill from Douglas made the score 13-8, as that would be the final point of the match for the side as ECU would go on to get the next two points and claim the game 15-8.

"There were things to build off of. Cincinnati is a top 30 team and to sweep them shows what we're capable of. Again, we showed it for two sets today, but there are some things to build on and we have to learn how to close out teams and finish off the weekend," Barnes said.

Tulane will be back in action next Friday, beginning a two-game swing in the Sunshine State with a Friday night match against the USF Bulls in Tampa.

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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