Volleyball Closes Home Slate With win Over Temple in Four

Sunday, November 10

New Orleans, La.

1 PM

Tulane University

19-8, 9-5American

Temple

11-14, 2-12American

Temple

Tulane

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Volleyball Closes Home Slate With win Over Temple in Four

Nov 10, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – On a day when they honored their three seniors of Meghan Doyle, Erika Hansel and Kaylie McHugh postgame, the Tulane Green Wave volleyball team closed the 2019 home schedule on Sunday with a four-set victory over the Temple Owls 25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 Sunday afternoon inside Fogelman in Devlin.

After taking the opening two sets Tulane (19-8, 9-5 The American) had to fend off a Temple (11-14, 2-12) team hungry for a win in the final two to secure the victory. Tulane produced 49 kills on 45 assists, while having 74 digs and eight blocks as a group to sweep a weekend of action for the first time since the opening week of conference play.

"I'm proud of these seniors who've helped build this program. We've had to be creative this year with different lineups but our seniors have been there everyday leading and we owe them a great deal of gratitude," head coach Jim Barnes said. "This season is all for them."

Lexie Douglas led the team with 14 kills and hit .222 for the match, adding four digs and a service ace. Kayla Dinkins had 10 kills and five blocks, while Hansel, Lauryn Green and Lizzy Stefanov had six kills each.

Taylor Henisgman led the setters with 24 assists and eight digs, while Amanda Giardina had 20 assists and six of Tulane's season-high 13 service aces in the win.

In a reversal that saw them switch jersey colors midway through the match, Makala Heidelberg and McHugh traded positions as the libero with the senior finishing the day with 24 digs, a pair of kills and three aces, while Heidelberg ended the day with 22.

There were six ties and five lead changes during the 19 points of the opening set between the two sides, as both looked to shake off the rust after traveling the day before. After spotting the Owls a 9-7 lead after a three-point swing, Tulane went on the offensive and rattled off four consecutive points thanks to a handful of Temple unforced errors and take the lead back going up 11-9.

The Green Wave struggled to shake Temple and gain some distance as the Owls continued to fight back to keep things close. However, with the score at 15-14 in favor of Tulane, the home side broke out in a big way going on a 5-0 run to push the lead to 20-14 over the visitors as Temple used its final timeout of the first set.

Temple had trouble finding a way to stop the Tulane attack, while trying to generate any offense of its own, eventually scoring just two more points in the set as the Green Wave took the opener 25-16.

With a 5-4 lead early in the second set, Temple came out a bit stronger in the second act of the match. A kill from McHugh kickstarted a 5-0 run for the Green Wave that pushed the team over the top an to a 9-5 lead over the Owls.

Unlike the first set, Temple didn't wither and instead roared back to life by going on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 9-9, and after Tulane got the next two points to go up 11-9, scored the next seven after that to go up 16-11 and force the Green Wave into both of their timeouts.

Tulane was able to adjust, and it was crucial in order to keep the game close as the team outscored Temple 9-3 to storm back and take the lead up 20-19. It set off a tense back-and-forth between the two sides to see which one would eventually take the lead last. With the Owls up 23-22, Dinkins and McHugh combined for the block to tie the set, with Dinkins putting one away to make it 24-23 and force Temple into its final timeout.

After the break, Dinkins came through again thanks to a set from Giardina to cement the comeback and go up 2-0 in the match with the 25-23 set victory.

Tulane wound up having to call an early timeout in the third set after Temple opened by going on a 7-3 run to start. The Wave would call their second timeout down 11-4 as the Owls started to lay it on. Scoring five of the next eight helped Tulane cut into the Temple lead, as the Owls called a timeout leading the Green Wave 14-9.

Slowly, Tulane started to gain some steam and began to chip away at the Temple lead as the Green Wave were able to cut the lead to just a pair of points on three separate occasions which included with the match situated at 23-21 after a Green and Hansel block with Temple calling its final timeout.

However, Tulane would not be able to find the rally to get them over the top as Temple kept the match alive by taking the third set 25-22.

Once again, the Owls were able to race out to a hot start, as Tulane needed to call a timeout trailing the Owls 7-3 in the fourth set. It took an incredible effort for the Green Wave to get back into the match, going on a 10-0 run which included four aces from Giardina and an 11-3 swing to go on top 14-10 to change the entire complexion of the match.

While Tulane eventually pushed its lead to 18-13, Temple was able to go on a run of its own to eventually pull within one of the team at 19-18. The Green Wave got critical kills from Stefanov to ease the pressure, including the match winner on her sixth kill of the day to close out the proceedings and give Tulane the 25-23 win in the fourth.

"All our goals are within reach. We'll go into SMU next week with a chance to play for first place in the division, so everything there is right there for us," Barnes said. "We've got to get better this week and get ready."

Tulane will close out the 2019 regular season next week, traveling to take on the SMU Mustangs and the Memphis Tigers on Friday and Sunday.

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

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