Volleyball Moves Into tie for First Place With Comeback win Over SMU

Friday, November 15

Dallas, TX

7 PM

Tulane University

20-8,10-5AAC

SMU

17-8,10-5AAC

Tulane

SMU

Photo by: Parker Waters

Volleyball Moves Into tie for First Place With Comeback win Over SMU

Nov 15, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

DALLAS, Texas – Down 2-0 in the match, the Tulane Green Wave laid it all on the court and by the time the final ball was hit the team was able to capture a thrilling five-set victory over the SMU Mustangs 20-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-17, 15-11 Friday night in Moody Coliseum.

After hitting below .200 in the first two sets, Tulane (20-8, 10-5) finished the night doing so in two of the final three sets to hit .206 on the night with 62 kills on 60 assists, while holding SMU (17-8, 10-5) to a .142 hitting clip as the Mustangs hit into 14 Green Wave blocks and 83 digs.

"It describes our season that we've had to deal with a lot of adversity, but we keep fighting through it and we put ourselves in position to win the division and we need this game, and after being down 0-2 again our character kept fighting," head coach Jim Barnes said. "As coaches we couldn't be any more proud of the fight and heart the team showed tonight."

Tulane was led by junior Lexie Douglas who finished with 17 kills and 17 digs Friday night, hitting .222. Sophomore Kayla Dinkins hit .333 with 14 kills six blocks, followed by freshman Lauryn Green who had 10 kills, seven blocks, three digs and a service aces for the Green Wave.

Jenna Ibieta led the team with 28 assists, with six digs and two kills, while Taylor Henigsman 24 assists and nine digs. Kaylie McHugh had 23 digs to lead Tulane, adding six assists and an ace, while Makala Heidelberg had 17 digs and a pair of service aces.

After trading the first six points, the Mustangs used a two-point swing to go up 5-3 and just that quick rally had the Green Wave playing catch up for the rest of the set from that point on. Down by two at 9-7, Tulane got a kill from Ibieta and an SMU attacking error on the next play to tie the set at 9-9.

Another short 2-0 burst for the Mustangs once again put the home side on top 11-9, as the Green Wave found it hard to get points as SMU went on a 7-4 run to go up 16-12 with Tulane calling a timeout. SMU was able to hold serve and went on to pull out the first set 25-20.

The Green Wave couldn't have asked for a better start to open the second set after dropping the first, going on a 5-1 run and seeming to fire on all cylinders. The Green Wave were the first to get to double digits, getting a kill from Dinkins to go on top 10-6.

After going up 14-8 thanks to a Douglas kill, SMU began to go on the offensive and went on a 5-0 run to pull within one at 14-13. While Tulane got three more points to gain a bit of distance to go on top 17-13, the Mustangs refused to go away and went on to score six of the next seven to take their first lead of the set up 19-18.

Lizzy Stefanov came through with a kill to tie the set again at 19, but SMU scored the next three to go up 22-19 and held the Green Wave to just two more points for the rest of the set and went up 2-0 with the 25-21 set victory.

Tulane got off to another quality start to open the third set, as an Yvette Burcescu kill helped the Green Wave jut out to a 6-3 lead over the Mustangs after the first nine points of the frame. But just as quick as Tulane took that lead, SMU was already charging back to make things close as the Mustangs outscored the Green Wave 7-6 to pull to within one at 11-10.

SMU was forced into a timeout after Tulane rattled off six straight points to turn its one-point lead into six, leading the Mustangs 16-10. The Green Wave were in total control, and SMU would not find the magic touch to force the comeback as they scored just five more points for the rest of the set as Tulane took the third 25-15 to keep the match alive.

Tulane took that positive momentum into the fourth set, claiming six of the first eight points in the fourth to go up 6-2 with SMU calling an early timeout to try and stop the Green Wave attack. The Mustangs got to within one at 7-6, but a block from Dinkins and Burcescu, a bad set and another Dinkins kill to push the lead back to four at 10-6.

Leading 14-11, SMU rallied to score four of the next five to tie the set at 15-all, with the two sides trading the next two points to knot the set at 16. However, a kill from Burcescu and a pair of SMU attacking errors pushed Tulane's lead to 19-16. SMU scored one more point, and Tulane raced to the end scoring six in a row to even the match at two with the 25-17 set victory.

Like it had done in the previous three, Tulane took to the final set by winning five of the first seven points to go up 5-2 in the fifth. The Mustangs scored five of the next seven after that and tied the set at 7-all, with a serving error in the net putting Tulane up 8-7 as the two sides switched sides of the court.

Tulane took the next two points and forced the Mustangs into a timeout to lead 10-7 before getting a point to make it 10-8. After that, a kill from Dinkins and Green made it 12-8 and SMU called its final timeout of the match. A Douglas kill after an SMU point made it 13-9, and a Mustang attack error made it 14-9. SMU earned the next three points to ratchet up the pressure, but Tulane had the victory in its sights and did not falter getting a kill to end the set 15-11 and claim the match.

Now Tulane heads into the final match of the season Sunday at 2 p.m. against Memphis with a chance to lock up the west division title and a first-round bye into the 2019 American Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship next week.

"It's a big game. This win, I want the girls to enjoy finishing out a big game on the road and tomorrow we'll wake up and start talking about Memphis tomorrow," Barnes said. "We'll think about them tomorrow and look to finish the last match of the season in the right way."

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

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