Volleyball Swipes Victory in Four at Houston

Friday, November 8

Houston, TX

7 PM

Tulane University

18-8,8-5AAC

Houston

15-13,9-4AAC

Tulane

Houston

Photo by: Niamh Brennan

Nov 8, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

HOUSTON, Texas – Looking to avenge their earlier loss at home earlier this season, the Tulane Green Wave volleyball team left the Fertitta Center on Friday securing a crucial four-set victory over the Houston Cougars 28-26, 25-23, 21-25, 25-17.

Tulane (18-8, 8-5 The American) and a reconfigured lineup that featured Kaylie McHugh as an outside hitter and Makala Heidelberg as the libero, the Green Wave produced 49 kills on 45 assists, while having 77 digs and a 11.5 blocks to knock off the Cougars (15-13, 9-4).

"As a coaching staff we're incredibly proud, and I'm proud of our coaches for doing a great job of preparing the team and we had a great game plan coming in," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Our setters did an excellent job executing and we really hurt them up the middle with Lauryn and Kayla. We had to do something different with all the injuries, and we had everybody step up and play like champs today."

The Green Wave had three players finish with 11 kills each, paced by Kayla Dinkins who hit .400 with eight blocks, Lauryn Green hitting .318 with two digs and three blocks and Lexie Douglas with seven digs and three blocks.

McHugh, serving as an attacker for the first time in her collegiate career, finished with eight kills and hit .250, still producing 13 digs and six aces in the win. Heidelberg, wearing the different color jersey for the first time, led Tulane with 20 digs.

Amanda Giardina netted a double-double with 19 assists and 13 digs, while Taylor Henigsman had 17 assists and five digs.

From the jump, Tulane came out focused and ready to play as the opening serve from Houston went long and before too long the Green Wave were on top of the Cougars 5-1, eventually making it a 7-1 start after an unforced Houston error. The Cougars would eventually pull within four after a service ace to make the game 8-4, but a kill from Green and a service ace from Giardina forced Houston into using an early timeout leading 10-4.

Houston began to pick up steam offensively, outscoring Tulane 10-5 over the course of the next 15 points to cut the Green Wave lead to just a single point. While Tulane was able to take five of the next nine points after that to lead 20-17, the Cougars eventually caught up and a 6-2 run gave Houston its first lead of the match up 22-21.

The Cougars had a chance at set point leading 24-23, but the Green Wave battled back and over the course of the next eight points outscored Houston and behind a kill from McHugh, Tulane pulled out the first set 28-26.

The Green Wave were able to come out in the second set with another quality start, with a Giardina kill giving Tulane a 5-3 lead over Houston early in the frame. While Tulane was able to get out to that quality start, the second proved to be a much closer affair for longer than it was for the short time in the first as Houston pushed Tulane throughout.

After Houston went on top 11-10, Tulane went on a 5-0 run to go up 15-11 to regain the lead and put the Cougars on the back foot. From there, Houston outscored Tulane 9-5 as the set was once again knotted, this time at 20.

The Cougars tied the set one more time after that at 21-21, but a kill from Dinkins and a service ace from McHugh made it 23-21. The two sides traded the next four points with Douglas getting a kill to ice the set and put Tulane up 2-0 in the match with the 25-23 set victory.

Houston came out of the intermission break the fresher team, and Tulane could have chalked the set to the Cougars being just a bit sharper but didn't as the squad continued to find some inspired play to make the home side earn all the points they got.

Down 11-4, Tulane roared back to life going on a 8-1 run to claw all the way back and tie the game at 12-12. From there the Green Wave never gave a chance for Houston to feel fully comfortable with the lead, pulling to within one at 17-16. Even after seeming to pull away for good on a 6-2 run to make it 23-18, the Wave battled back to pull within two at 23-21.

Unfortunately, team wouldn't be able to get over the hump as Houston claimed the set 25-21 for their first win of the night.

Tulane scored the first point of the fourth after a kill from Douglas and that point did everything it could to not look back. After a Cougar point to make the score 11-10 Green Wave, Tulane got two unforced Houston errors and another kill from Douglas to push the lead to 14-10 and force the home side into a timeout.

Houston had no answers and Tulane and every point the Green Wave got seemed to put the divide further and further away for the Cougars until eventually conceding eight of the next 14 points as Tulane led 22-16 and was knocking at the door. Houston was able to get just one more point as Tulane put the match away and took the final set 25-17 to claim the match and earn the victory.

"The team is going to fight. This team is going to fight and it's been a challenge this season staying healthy and those sorts of things, but we haven't used that as an excuse and today we knocked off the top team in this division and still gunning for first place," Barnes said.

Tulane will be back in action on Sunday, hosting the Temple Owls on Senior Day at 1 p.m. in New Orleans.

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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