Volleyball Falls to Memphis in Three

Sunday, November 17

Memphis, TN

2 PM

Tulane University

20-9,10-6AAC

Memphis

17-11,6-10AAC

Tulane

Memphis

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Nov 17, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Tulane volleyball team dropped its regular season finale match to the Memphis Tigers in three sets Sunday 25-17, 25-23, 25-23 inside the Roane Fieldhouse.

Tulane (20-9, 10-6 The American) finished the match hitting .112 as a group with 29 kills on 29 assists. Memphis hit .260 with 42 kills and seven service aces.

Lexie Douglas led Tulane with 10 kills, hitting .200 for the match with four digs and a service ace. Kristen Thompson and Kayla Dinkins finished with five kills each. Jenna Ibieta had 14 assists and eight digs, while Taylor Henigsman had 10 assists and four digs.

Kaylie McHugh finished the match with 18 digs, four assists and two aces, while Makala Heidelberg had 10 digs, a kill and an assist.

Memphis opened the match aided by Tulane miscues and some key plays early, racing out to a 9-5 lead over the Green Wave in the first set as the team would be forced into a timeout early. However, Tulane continued to hang around and keep things close, as with the team down 13-8, the squad went on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 13 to force the Tigers into a timeout.

Memphis outscored Tulane 3-1 over the course of the next four to force the team into using its second timeout of the set leading 17-14. The Tigers extended their lead by taking the next three after that and pushing the advantage to 20-14. Tulane wouldn't have an answer and Memphis went on to take the first set 25-17.

Tulane had much better energy to start the second set and raced out to a 4-1 lead over the Tigers, eventually pushing that lead to 6-3. However the Tigers bounced back by scoring the next five after that to take an 8-6 lead over the Green Wave as the team took a timeout. After Memphis got to the 13-point mark, Tulane rallied with a 4-0 run, backed by consecutive McHugh aces to go on top 14-13.

It set off a tense back and forth between the two teams to see which one would pull away first, and with Tulane behind 17-15, the Green Wave went on a 4-0 run to go up 19-17 and force the Tigers into a timeout. Memphis rallied back and was able to tie the set late, and while Tulane held the advantage shortly, the Tigers were able to hold off Tulane at the 23-point mark and took the second set 25-23.

Memphis came out in the third set and with the momentum in their corner the Tigers jumped out to a 13-7 lead, but a 4-0 run for Tulane pulled the team to within two down 13-11 as Memphis called a timeout. Tulane was able to get to within two of the Tigers at 16-14, but Memphis went on to score four of the next five and take a 20-15 lead over the Green Wave.

Tulane would be able to cut the Memphis lead to one trailing 23-22 and 24-23, but the Tigers would not wither and wound up taking the set and the match with a 25-23 win.

The 2019 American Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship takes place November 22-24 in Orlando, Florida, at The Venue at UCF. The winner of the inaugural event will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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

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