Volleyball Falls in Three to Wichita State

Friday, November 1

New Orleans, La.

7 PM

Tulane University

16-8, 6-5American

Wichita State

7-16, 4-7American

Wichita St.

Tulane

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Nov 1, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

New Orleans, La. – The Tulane volleyball team fell in three sets to the Wichita State Shockers 25-23, 28-26, 25-20 Friday night inside Fogelman in Devlin.

Tulane (16-8, 6-5 The American) was held to a .180 hitting percentage in the match and registered four blocks, while the Shockers (7-16, 4-7) hit .216 in the contest and registered 11 blocks as a squad on the night.

"We lose the first two sets by two points and uncharacteristically just didn't show enough toughness and fight just to get those wins," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Just extremely disappointed."

Lexie Douglas finished the night with 12 kills and hit .241, adding six digs. Erika Hansel had eight kills and two digs, while Lauryn Green, Kayla Dinkins and Makala Heidelberg had six kills each. Green and Dinkins each hit .417, as Dinkins had three blocks and Green had one.

Amanda Giardina had 17 assists, seven digs and two kills, while Taylor Henigsman had 13 assists and three digs. Heidelberg led the team with 17 digs, while Kaylie McHugh had 11 digs and seven assists.

The first set resembled much of the way the first meeting between the two, opening as a tense affair with both sides taking turns taking the lead. There were 10 ties and six lead changes between the two teams, as with Wichita State up 16-15, Douglas got a kill to tie the set at 16-all, but the Shockers got the next two points to go up 18-16 and force a Tulane timeout.

The Green Wave rallied by taking the next three points out of the break thanks to a service error, Heidelberg kill and block from Green and Kristen Thompson to go on top 19-18. After trading the next two points to make it 20-19, Wichita State scored the next five points to put Tulane on the brink. The team staved off set point three times to pull within one, but the Shockers closed out the set with the 25-23 set victory.

Tulane opened the second set on a positive note, taking five of the first six points to jut out to an early lead. However, Wichita State took six of the next seven to storm back and take the lead going up 7-6. Both teams flirted with taking the lead with five ties and three lead changes, but after Tulane tied the set at 13, Wichita State scored the next three to go up 16-13.

Battling back by getting the next three points thanks to kills from Douglas and Heidelberg and attack error from the Shockers the set was tied again at 16. While Wichita State was able to earn three of the next five to go up 19-18, Tulane got kills from Green and Hansel to go up 20-19 and force the Shockers into a timeout.

Each of the next six points after that were split to make the score 23-22 in favor of the Green Wave, but a solo block on the seventh point for Wichita State tied the set at 23 as Tulane called its final timeout. It set off a furious chain reaction that saw three more ties, but Wichita State was playing on the front foot and after Tulane tied the set at 26 after an unforced error, but the Shockers got the final two points they needed to go up 2-0 in the match and win 28-26.

There were seven ties and four lead changes within the first 18 points of the set, as Tulane was looking to stave off the sweep. After a kill from Dinkins to give Tulane a 9-8 lead over the Shockers, Wichita State went on a 4-0 run to go up 12-9.

The Green Wave found a way to weather the Wichita State attack and made a game of it by netting five of the next eight points, capped by a kill from Jenna Ibieta to tie the set at 14-14. However another three-point swing from the Shockers pushed their lead to 17-14, as Tulane called its final timeout to try and stop the attack.

Unfortunately, the lead would be too much to overcome in the end, as Tulane dropped the final set 25-20 as Wichita State claimed the match.

"We'll go to work tomorrow, and we've got a big wake-up call. We'll see who answers the call," Barnes said.

Tulane will be back in action on Sunday, hosting the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at 1 p.m. inside Fogelman in Devlin.

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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