Volleyball Makes Clean Sweep With Win over Cajuns

Saturday, August 31

Lafayette, LA

12:30 PM

Tulane University

3-0

Louisiana-Lafayette

0-3

Tulane

Louisiana

Photo by: Clyde Verdin

Volleyball Makes Clean Sweep With Win over Cajuns

Aug 31, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. – Looking to open the 2019 campaign with a clean sweep of its first three opponents, the Tulane volleyball team took the opening two sets and weathered a furious comeback attempt in the third to defeat the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 Saturday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym to capture the Doubletree Classic title.

Offensively, the Green Wave (3-0) got a complete performance from nearly everyone on the roster on Saturday to the tune of a .215 hitting percentage as a group with 36 kills on the afternoon. On the other side, the defense held the Ragin' Cajuns (0-3) to a clip of just .070, hitting into six total Green Wave team blocks.

Lexie Douglas and Erika Hansel combined for half of Tulane's 36 kills in the match, producing nine each with Douglas hitting .241 with seven digs and Hansel hitting .217 with three digs and a block.

Yvette Burcescu led the team in blocks with three, adding five kills, while Makala Heidelberg led the group with 11 digs to go along with her four kills. Amanda Giardina served up 10 assists, while Jenna Ibieta had eight and Taylor Henigsman had seven for the Green Wave.

Tulane opened the match getting the first two points from a Douglas kill and a Markenzie Benoit service ace, as the Cajuns rebounded by getting the next two. From there the Green Wave earned three of the next five points to go up 5-4, but the lead grew as a 4-0 run pushed the team's lead to 9-4.

The Green Wave forced Louisiana-Lafayette to use both of its timeouts after taking leads of 13-8 and 18-9 as the Cajuns would be unable to find any footing in the match. Louisiana-Lafayette would pull nine more points before the opening set ended, but the lead would be too much to overcome for the home side, as Tulane finished the set hitting .250 with 12 total kills.

Opening the second set, the Cajuns were the ones starting on the front foot, getting the first two points before Tulane could come back and get the next pair after a service error and Hansel kill. But from there, Louisiana-Lafayette got five of the next six to take a 7-3 lead over the Green Wave.

Fortunately, Tulane found their groove quickly after that and rattled off seven of the next eight points capped by a Kaylie McHugh ace to rally and make the comeback to force a ULL timeout leading 10-8.

The Cajuns found ways to make it a one-score game but would not threaten the Green Wave lead as the squad turned a 14-13 lead into an 18-14 one to force Louisiana-Lafayette's second timeout of the frame.

Tulane held ULL to just four more points for the rest of the set, as the Cajuns hit below .100 for the second time on the day with the Green Wave going on to take the set 25-18.

After giving up the first two points and four of the first six to open the third, the Cajuns started to come undone with consecutive attacking errors to tie the game at 4-4. After a ULL kill, Tulane would benefit from three Cajun unforced errors to go up 7-5.

The opposition pulled within one point just once more, that coming at 8-7 in favor of the Green Wave, but that would be the closest the Cajuns would get for the rest of the match as Tulane turned on the jets and outscored Louisiana-Lafayette 11-5 to take a commanding 19-12 lead.

Louisiana-Lafayette found some footing offensively late to put a bit of a scare into the squad, but Tulane buckled down and got the final two points it needed with kills from Hansel and Douglas to put the match away and claim the title.

At the end of the match, Benoit and Hansel were both named to the All-Tournament Team, while sophomore Kayla Dinkins was named the tournament most valuable player after she finished the weekend with a .500 hitting clip and seven blocks.

Tulane returns to action on Tuesday night, hosting the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at 7 p.m. at Fogelman in Devlin.

Single-game and season 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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