Volleyball Drops Five-Setter to Houston Friday

Friday, October 4

New Orleans, La.

7 PM

Tulane University

12-4, 2-1American

Houston

9-9, 3-0American

Houston

Tulane

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Volleyball Drops Five-Setter to Houston Friday

Oct 4, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – In a battle of two of the three unbeaten teams in the west division, the Tulane volleyball team was able to rebound after dropping the first set to Houston Friday night in New Orleans, but the team couldn't put the final pieces together as the Green Wave fell in five sets to the Cougars 25-22, 18-25, 17-25, 25-16, 15-12.

Tulane (12-4, 2-1 The American) had a hold on set one before Houston (9-9, 3-0) rallied to take the opener, but the Green Wave rebounded to take the next two in convincing fashion. However, the Cougars held put after gaining a sizeable lead in the fourth and made just enough breaks in the fifth to pull out the match.

"Houston played tough. We had set one. We had a nice lead and had a big lead late and we didn't put that set away and that's what came back to bite us," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We had a little bit of an injury in that set and did not handle the situation well and really gave them set one. We responded well by winning set two and three, we just didn't handle adversity well in four and five. It's a match we should have won, but we have yet to put three sets in a row together."

Sophomore Yvette Burcescu led Tulane with 11 kills and hit .235 in the match, adding seven digs and four blocks. Lexie Douglas had nine kills, scooping up 17 digs and adding five blocks.

Lauryn Green finished with eight kills and seven blocks, while fellow middle Kayla Dinkins had seven kills and hit .235 with seven blocks as well.

Amanda Giardina earned a double-double with 21 assists and 11 digs, as Jenna Ibieta had 13 assists, seven digs and three service aces. Senior Kaylie McHugh finished the night with 21 digs and five assists.

After Houston opened the match taking two of the first three points, the Green Wave got kills from Burcescu and Green, an ace from Ibieta and an unforced UH attacking error to go on a 4-0 swing to go up 5-2. After taking three of the next four Tulane extended that lead to 8-4, however the Cougars scored six of the next nine points to pull within one at 11-10 and forcing Tulane into a timeout.

The short break allowed the Wave to regroup and came out of the timeout scoring the next three points to push the lead to 14-10. Trading the next four points, a service error and a block from Dinkins and Douglas pushed Tulane's lead to 17-12. Houston wouldn't make things easy for the Green Wave for the rest of the set, as with Tulane up 20-15 the Cougars rattled off six of the next eight to pull within one again at 22-21.

Unfortunately, the timeout didn't help as Houston scored the next four points and ended the set going on a 6-0 run to pull out the opener 25-22.

Tulane did not waste time jumping on the Cougars to start the very next set, as the Green Wave set the tone by scoring eight of the first 10 points, including each of the first five in a row to go up 8-2. A kill from Douglas got the Wave to double-digits up 10-5 as the two sides traded the previous four points prior to that.

The Cougars would get as close as 13-10, but from there Tulane went into cruise control and scored five of the next six to go up 17-11 and force Houston into using a timeout. A Kristen Thompson kill from Ibieta gave Tulane a 20-14 advantage, with a Houston error making it 21-14. After a pair of points for the Cougars, Douglas and Dinkins each put kills away to make it 23-16 Tulane.

Houston got two more points for the rest of the frame, sandwiched in the middle of the final three points for the home side to even the match at 1-1 with the 25-18 set victory.

Tulane earned three of the first five points of the third set, but Houston stormed back and connected on each of the next four to take a 6-3 lead. It was dwarfed by the 5-0 run Tulane went on to rally back and take the lead going up 8-6. Houston kept things within reach, eventually getting the Green Wave to call a timeout after the Cougars went from being down 17-14, to just 17-16.

The Wave wouldn't need to use another, as the team was nearly flawless to end the third and went up 2-1 in the contest by going on a blistering 8-1 run to pull out the set 25-17.

Houston took to the fourth and earned the first three points before Tulane could stop the run with two points of their own to trail 3-2. The Green Wave got three of the next four, but after that the Cougars started to slowly pull away netting eight of the following 11 points to take a 13-9 lead with Tulane calling a timeout.

The Green Wave got two points out of the break on kills from Dinkins, but after that the Cougars would do enough to keep Tulane from threatening the lead and went on a tear late in the form of a six-point swing to put enough distance that a late charge from the Wave would be unable to overcome as Houston took the fourth set 25-16.

The tension was thick in the fifth, as both sides scraped for each point early. With Tulane down 4-3, the squad got a kill from Dinkins and two attacking errors from Houston to go up 6-4. The Green Wave were able to hold serve, but with the score at 8-6, Houston scored three straight points to go up 9-8 as Tulane called a timeout.

A Green kill tied it up at 9-9, but after a twice-reviewed play that gave Houston a point to make it 10-9 the Cougars got another kill to make it 11-9 as Tulane called its final timeout of the match. A Houston error made it 12-10, but the Cougars inched closer with a pair of points right after. Tulane got a pair of unforced UH errors to pull within two, but on the very next play Houston clinched the match with a kill to take the fifth 15-12.

"We've got to be ready because UConn is playing well. They just beat Temple and every team in this league is going to play tough," Barnes said. "We've got some growing up to do. We've got to learn how to stay locked in and put teams away. We've got to get a consistent execution in our play and it's showing. But we'll go back to work and get ready for Sunday."

Tulane returns to action on Sunday, traveling to face the UConn Huskies at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs at 11 a.m.

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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