Volleyball Falls in Four to Colgate in NIVC

Saturday, December 7

Hamilton, NY

4 PM

Tulane University

22-11, 10-6American

Colgate

24-7, 15-1Patriot

Tulane

Colgate

Photo by: Justin Wolford

Dec 7, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Tulane volleyball team was looking to have its season continue, but the Colgate Raiders had other plans as the home side weathered a split of the first two sets by taking the third and fourth and defeated the Green Wave 25-23, 23-25, 26-24 25-18 Saturday afternoon on Cotterell Court.

Tulane (22-11) withstood heartbreak of dropping the first set after having a decent lead late to knot the match at one set each, but Colgate (24-7) weathered its own scares of faltering late by holding off late Green Wave rallies to pull out the final two to advance to take on the TCU Horned Frogs in the next round of the NIVC next week.

Lexie Douglas finished the match leading Tulane with 16 kills and hitting .282, earning her 13^th double-double of the season with 11 digs to tie for the team match high. Lauryn Green was next with 12 kills and five blocks. Yvette Burcesu and Kayla Dinkins had nine kills each.

Amanda Giardina had 25 assists and six digs for the Green Wave, as Jenna Ibieta had 17 assists and eight digs. In their final matches as members of the team, Kaylie McHugh had 11 digs, while Erika Hansel had four kills and four blocks.

It was a very steely match early, with Colgate and Tulane battling through seven ties and three lead changes through the first 16 points of the opening set. The Raiders used a 3-0 swing to battle back from 5-4 deficit to go on top 7-5 to earn a bit of the momentum early.

With the score tied at nine, Tulane got a kill from Dinkins, a solo block from Douglas and kill from Green to force the Raiders into a timeout down 12-9. Tulane was able to keep Colgate at bay for a short bit, but with the score at 18-15 in favor of the Green Wave, the Raiders forced the team into a timeout after another three-point swing tied the game.

The end of the set saw five more ties, with Tulane having a chance first to see the set out after a Hansel kill made the score 23-22, but the Green Wave didn't score another point for the rest of the set and the Raiders pulled out the first 25-23.

Needing to rally to overcome the frustration of having a hold on the first set before fading, Tulane took to the second and showed some fight early battling from being down 7-5 and got a pair of unforced errors to tie the set. However, Colgate began to go on the attack and led by as many as five points deep into the frame.

Tulane still had fight yet, catching Colgate off guard as the Green Wave steadily chipped away at the Raider lead and before they knew it a late 8-3 run for Tulane tied the set at 21-all. Colgate would score just two more points as Tulane went on a 7-2 run to close and claim the set 25-23 to even things up.

The Green Wave used every bit of their energy to even things up, and in the third Colgate used that to its advantage early as the Raiders at one point were hitting over .350 and led by as many as eight points at two different points of the set.

Looking like they were going to cruise to 25-point mark, Colgate got to set point leading the Green Wave 24-18, but Tulane staved off set point by going on a 6-0 run to tie the frame at 24. Unfortunately, after making up all that ground the Wave would have its points streak end there and the Raiders got the final two points to go up 2-1 winning 26-24.

Tulane opened the fourth on the front foot, taking the lead early and making sure not to relinquish it to the Raiders without a fight. With the set tied at 10, the Green Wave got kills from Lizzy Stefanov, Douglas and Burcescu to force Colgate into a timeout now leading 13-10.

Douglas' 16^th and final kill of the game gave Tulane a 16-13 lead over the Raiders, but Colgate turned it on when they needed to, closing out the match on a 12-2 run to seal the match and end Tulane's season.

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

WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.