Volleyball Weathers the Storm to Defeat Tulsa in Five

Sunday, November 3

New Orleans, La.

1 PM

Tulane University

17-8, 7-5American

Tulsa

14-11, 7-5American

Tulsa

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Volleyball Weathers the Storm to Defeat Tulsa in Five

Nov 3, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

New Orleans, La. – The Tulane volleyball team got a career-high 22 kills from Lexie Douglas amid three players finishing with more than 10, while having four players finish with double figure digs as the Green Wave defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in five sets 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13 Sunday afternoon inside Fogelman in Devlin.

Tulane (17-8, 7-5 The American), looking to bounce back after a tough loss Friday night got a team performance when it needed it most, hitting .206 as a group offensively with 62 kills on 58 assists. In turn, the Green Wave held the Golden Hurricane (14-11, 7-5) to a .164 hitting clip thanks to 84 team digs and 15 team blocks.

"I'm just proud of the way we fought back. No one should ever question our fight and our determination to give our best every match," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Regardless of the score you can't ever question that. Today showed that we have a lot of fight in us and we responded really well to Friday's loss and beat a really good team."

Douglas earned her 10^th double-double of the season by leading all players with her 22 kills, hitting .327 for the match, and adding 12 digs a block and two service aces for the Green Wave. Kayla Dinkins hit .389 and had 11 kills and seven blocks, while Lauryn Green had 10 kills, hit .3-4 and led all players with eight blocks for Tulane.

Amanda Giardina recorded a new career-best 37 assists and had 12 digs for the double-double and three aces. Kaylie McHugh led Tulane with 21 digs, while adding two assists and a service ace.

The Golden Hurricane opened the match in the first by taking four of the first six points to go on top of the Green Wave 4-2, but the lead would be short lived for the visitors as Tulane went on a 4-0 run to go up 6-4. While Tulsa would be able to keep the score within a couple of points, with the game at 8-7, the Wave went on to score seven of the next 11 to force the Golden Hurricane into a timeout trailing 15-11.

Tulane seemed to have a hold on the set, but slowly the Golden Hurricane began to stake their claim and began to chip away at the Green Wave lead until finally breaking through turning a 22-19 deficit into a 24-22 lead thanks to a 5-0 run. Tulane got a kill from Douglas to keep the set alive, but Tulsa got the very next point to take the first set 25-23.

There were eight ties and five lead changes throughout the first 24 points of the second set, as both sides were looking for an edge to try and take over the frame. However, the turning point for Tulane that finally energized the crowd came with the team trailing 12-10, and a pair of emphatic blocks from Green and Yvette Burcescu ignited a 5-0 run that forced Tulsa into a timeout trailing 15-12.

The Golden Hurricane was able to pull within a point of Tulane at 19-18, but the Green Wave refused to relinquish the lead and got stronger as they got closer to putting the match away, and did by scoring six of the final eight points of the set to even the match at 1-1 with the 25-20 second set victory.

Tulsa took a slim lead to open the third set at 3-2, but Tulane countered by getting a kill from Erika Hansel, block from Hansel and Green and a service ace from Douglas to go up 5-3. Tulane continued to attack, scoring seven of the next 10 to go up 12-6.

Tulane eventually pushed its lead to 16-11 over the Golden Hurricane, but Tulsa rallied thanks to a 5-0 run to tie the third at 16-all with the Green Wave calling a timeout. A replay was called for by Tulane after the whistle blew during play, and for the Green Wave it proved to be a pivotal moment as the team got a kill from Lizzy Stefanov and a solo block from Dinkins to go up 19-17.

Tulsa went up 20-19 after scoring three straight, as Tulane came back and did the same to go up 22-20 and force Tulsa into its final timeout. After pulling three of the next four to tie the set at 23-23, Tulsa was done from there as a kill from Douglas and one from Green ended the set with the Green Wave up 2-1 with the 25-23 victory.

The fourth set mostly proved to be a non-stop affair, until Tulane decided to do something about it. Tulsa opened the set by taking the lead and held on to it deep into the midway point of the frame. But with the Golden Hurricane up 16-13, Tulane executed a needed 4-0 swing to go on top 17-16 and push Tulsa into a timeout.

Still, the Golden Hurricane did what it could to keep the match alive and went on a five-point swing as Tulane burned both of its timeouts, giving the Green Wave a bit of life to make things close but the lead being too great as Tulsa sent the match to a fifth with the 25-23.

If the fourth set was a track meet, then the fifth and deciding set resembled more of a stock car race that never seemed to let up, regardless of which team had an advantage. It featured the most ties and lead changes of any previous set with nine and seven, respectively, with 31 and 21 in the entirety of the match.

Tulane was trailing 11-9 in the set, when the team turned around and got a kill from Dinkins and Burcescu to knot the set at 11-11. Out of the break, a thunderous block from Dinkins and Douglas gave Tulane the lead at 12-11. Tulsa, then had to battle to keep in it, trading points eventually leading to a 13-all tie.

Douglas stayed hot and earned her 22^nd kill to force Tulsa into its final timeout of the day, but an unforced error on the 14^th ball-handling error of the match ended the contest with Tulane claiming the set 15-13 and the win.

"You've got to play a team game and everyone's got to be ready to play," Barnes said. "Really what happened today is people stepped up their game. Both middle's picked up their game, as well as Amanda and Lexie. People stepped up their game and we got a crucial win."

Tulane will be back in action next weekend, splitting a pair of matches beginning with a road contest against the Houston Cougars Friday night in Texas, before returning home on Sunday to take on Temple in the team's final home match of the regular season.

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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