McHugh Sets School Record as Volleyball Closes Play at Western Kentucky Saturday

Saturday, September 14

Bowling Green, KY

11 AM

Tulane University

8-2

Bowling Green

5-4

Bowling Green

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

McHugh Sets School Record as Volleyball Closes Play at Western Kentucky Saturday

Sep 14, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Tulane volleyball team bounced back from a slow start in the opening set to take the next three, while senior Kaylie McHugh became Tulane's all-time digs leader as the squad defeated the Bowling Green Falcons in four sets, 19-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-17 Saturday afternoon inside Diddle Arena and wrapped up play in the 2019 Holiday Inn – University Plaza Invitational hosted by Western Kentucky.

Coming into the match needing 16 digs to tie the record and 17 to break it, the Davie, Florida, native broke the record on her final dig in the closing points of the match to pass Jenn Miller who had 1,987 from 2006-2009. McHugh finished the contest adding eight assists and three services along with her 17 digs.

Sophomore Yvette Burcescu led all players with 16 kills on a .433 hitting percentage for the Green Wave in the win, with an assist, two digs and two blocks. Tulane as a team hit .236 with 64 total kills against the Falcons.

Lexie Douglas and Makala Heidelberg both notched double-doubles in the match, with Douglas having 12 kills and 15 digs, along with three aces and 15 blocks, while Heidelberg had 12 kills and led all players with 21 digs.

Amanda Giardina had 24 assists to lead Tulane, digging up seven balls with two kills and two aces, while Jenna Ibieta had 23 assists with a pair of digs.

Helping power Tulane's 11 blocks as a team was Kayla Dinkins who finished the match with seven to lead all players, adding nine kills and hitting .318 for the match.

Bowling Green was up to the task early against the Green Wave, going on a 6-2 run to start the match in the opening set. Tulane was able to pull within two at 6-4, 7-5 and 8-6, but a three-point swing for the Falcons extended the opposition lead to 11-6 to force Tulane into an early timeout.

Down 13-7, the Green Wave got three consecutive points on kills from Douglas and Dinkins, and an ace from McHugh to pull the team to within three of the Falcons again. However, BGSU took five of the next six points to take an 18-11 lead and force Tulane to use its final timeout of the opening set.

Three points out of the timeout for Tulane made the score 18-14 in favor of the Falcons, but another short, 3-0 run for BGSU extended the opposition's lead to 21-14. A Dinkins block, Nicole Levine service ace and a Green kill cut the deficit to 21-17, but from there Bowling Green closed out the set taking four of the next six points to take the set 25-19.

Tulane took its first lead of the day with the opening point of the second set on a kill from Kristen Thompson before the Falcons answered back with a kill of their own to tie it at 1-1. There were four ties and two lead changes within the first eight points of the match, with the last coming with Tulane down 4-3, getting a kill from Heidelberg to tie the set and a Bowling Green attacking error and ace from Levine to take the lead going up 6-4.

The Falcons had to take a timeout after the Green Wave earned six of the next nine points of the set to go on top 12-7, with the rally continuing after the break as kills from Douglas and Dinkins made the score 14-7 in favor or Tulane.

Things were finally clicking for Tulane as the Green Wave continued to roll claiming seven of the next 10 points to put further distance between themselves and the Falcons, forcing BGSU into its second timeout leading 19-10. An ace from Douglas out of the break got Tulane to 20 up 20-10, with Giardina adding a kill after a BGSU point to make it 21-11.

Bowling Green made Tulane work for those final four points, with the Falcons staving off set point three times before Tulane got a kill from Thompson to tie the match at 1-1 by taking the second set 25-19.

The Falcons opened the third by taking the first three points of the set, with Tulane rallying in a big way after that. It started with a kill from Ibieta before a block from Douglas and Dinkins made it a 3-2 game. After a point for the Falcons, Tulane got three points to go on top 5-4.

BGSU tied things up at 5-5, but Tulane got four of the next five to go up 9-6. From there Tulane did its best to play keep away from Bowling Green and it seemed to work nearly midway through the set, but the Falcons started to string runs together and eventually caught up to the Green Wave and tied the set at 16-16.

From there it ignited a tense back-and-forth between the two sides with neither giving an inch resulting in over half of the 12 ties in the set coming in the latter half of the set. With the set tied at 27, McHugh had an ace, to give Tulane the lead again as Douglas put the set away with a kill to put Tulane up 2-1 in the match with the 29-27 set win.

The fourth set was just an extension of the third, with six ties and a pair of lead changes through the first 22 points of the set, but after that it was all Green Wave as Tulane went on an 8-1 run and took a dominating 19-12 lead over the Falcons.

Bowling Green pulled four of the next five points against the Green Wave as Tulane called a timeout leading 20-16, and the quick talk worked as Tulane shifted into another gear and closed out the match outscoring the Falcons 5-1 and securing the match 25-17.

Match Two: Western Kentucky 3, Tulane 1

The Tulane volleyball team put forth a solid fight against the homestanding Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Saturday evening, but the host side proved to be too much in the end as the Green Wave fell in four sets 25-16, 25-22, 20-25, 25-20 in the last match of tournament play.

Tulane (8-3) was heled to a .120 hitting percentage in the contest with 40 kills in the session, earning double-figure kills in two of the four sets. Western Kentucky (9-1) hit .215 and had 52 kills against the Green Wave, hitting above .300 in two of the four sets.

Sophomore Makala Heidelberg earned her second double-double of the day as she led Tulane with 10 kills and 14 digs. Kayla Dinkins had nine kills and hit .368 in the match, leading the squad with four blocks.

Amanda Giardina had 22 assists and six digs for the Green way, while Taylor Henigsman had nine. Lexie Douglas had 14 digs as well to tie for the team lead in the category, while Kaylie McHugh who became the all-time digs leader earlier in the day had 13 and two aces.

WKU opened the match taking the first two points of the opening set, with Tulane battling back to earn the next two after a Hilltopper attack error and then a kill from Heidelberg. However, from there the home side started to pull away forcing Tulane into using both of their timeouts after an eventual 9-1 run put Western Kentucky up 11-3.

A three-point swing from the Green Wave after a Hansel kill and back-to-back attacking errors for the Hilltoppers cut the WKU lead to five at 11-6 at that point, but Western Kentucky made life difficult for Tulane in terms of finding consistent points after that, and by the time the Wave started to find their footing the deficit proved to be too great as Western Kentucky took the first set 25-16.

Just like in the morning session, Tulane came alive much earlier in the second set and went on a 5-2 run to start to gain an early advantage over the Hilltoppers. After a WKU kill, Hansel put one away and back-to-back service aces from Nicole Levine made the score 8-3 as the Hilltoppers called a timeout.

Tulane was cruising until Western Kentucky was able to adjust and started to gain ground on the Green Wave. WKU outscored Tulane 11-5 and eventually tied the set at 14, taking the lead going up 15-14 as Tulane used its second timeout of the set.

Down 19-16, Douglas earned a kill and the team got consecutive kills from Dinkins to knot the match at 19-all. After a WKU point, Dinkins got another kill to tie the match at 20-20, with a Heidelberg kill sowing things back up at 21 after another point for the opposition. Tulane got one more point from a Hilltopper service error before the home side claimed the second set 25-22.

Tulane, looking to make a game of it after dropping those first two sets came out a composed and determined side in the third, as after WKU took an early 4-3 lead, Tulane went into action and rattled off three consecutive points to take a 6-4 lead over the Hilltoppers and would not look back from there.

Western Kentucky would only pull within a single point of the Wave, that coming with the score at 8-7 in favor of Tulane. Following the WKU point, Tulane earned five of the next six points to go on top 13-8. A WKU service error got Tulane to the 15-point mark leading 15-11, as a Burcescu kill made it a 16-12 game. An attack error and kill from Heidelberg made it 18-12 and pushed WKU into a timeout.

The Hilltoppers were vigilant, taking five of the next seven points from the Wave to cut the team's lead to 20-17, but Tulane was undeterred getting two kills from Douglas and a Dinkins solo block to sit two points away from taking the set at 23-17.

Dinkins put one away after WKU got two points to make it 24-19, as following a Tulane service error Heidelberg put away a kill of her own to give Tulane the set at 25-20.

After being denied the sweep, Western Kentucky opened the fourth by capturing 10 of the first 18 points to hold a slim lead over the Green Wave. A combo block from Dinkins and Heidelberg, followed by an ace from McHugh and WKU attack error gave Tulane the lead for the first time in the set up 11-10. Tulane would hold on to the lead and fend off WKU rallies eventually pushing the advantage to 16-14.

The Hilltoppers countered with a 6-0 run after that to have Tulane use both of its timeouts now trailing 20-16. Tulane scored three of the next four to pull within two down 21-19, but from there the Green Wave would only score one more point on a WKU service error as the Hilltoppers closed the match on a 4-1 run to claim the set 25-20.

Tulane returns to the court Wednesday night, hosting the Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Fogelman in Devlin at 7 p.m.

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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