Volleyball Clips Golden Eagles in Four

Wednesday, September 18

New Orleans, La.

7 PM

Tulane University

9-3

Southern Miss

0-11

Southern Miss

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Sep 18, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – In the team's final non-conference home match of the season, the Tulane volleyball team weathered some slow starts to defeat the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in four sets, 25-16, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20 Wednesday night inside Fogelman in Devlin.

The Green Wave (9-3) got a pair of double figure kill matches from Kayla Dinkins and Erika Hansel, while as a team holding the Golden Eagles (0-11) to a .125 hitting percentage on the night to secure the victory.

"I think Southern Miss played hard and really made us work and we had a few too many hitting errors that kept them in the game," head coach Jim Barnes said. "That was the main issue with us. We could never get into a rhythm making too many hitting errors and made things a lot closer than they needed to be. But credit to Southern Miss for their effort tonight."

Dinkins notched her first double-double and did so by leading the team with 12 kills and notching 10 blocks to lead all players. Hansel had 11 kills and had five blocks for Tulane, as Lexie Douglas and Lauryn Green each had eight.

Setters Jenna Ibieta and Amanda Giardina each had 21 assists for the Green Wave, as Ibieta had seven digs and Giardina had nine with two service aces.

Kaylie McHugh finished the night leading all players with 20 digs for Tulane, followed by senior Meghan Doyle who earned the start and had six kills, two service aces and two blocks.

Tulane spotted the Golden Eagles a 4-1 lead to open the match, but from there the Green Wave took over and started to roll beginning with a kill from Dinkins that kickstarted a 7-0 scoring run for the squad that forced Southern Miss into a timeout leading 8-4.

Out of the timeout Tulane extended that run to eight points, scoring three more after a Southern Miss point to push the lead to 12-5. After both sides traded points again to make it 13-6, the Golden Eagles scored four consecutive points to pull within three of the Green Wave at 13-10. However, Tulane went on another big run netting five straight points to go up 18-10.

Tulane was able to hold the Golden Eagles to just six more points for the rest of the set, going on to claim the set 25-16.

Southern Miss had a similar start to the second set, jutting out to a 5-2 lead over the Green Wave, as Tulane needed a three-point swing off the bounce to tie the frame at 5-5. After each side split the next two points, the Golden Eagles went on a 4-0 run to go back on top at 10-6.

Tulane would have to work to get back into the set and did by outscoring Southern Miss 6-2 to storm back and tie the set at 12-12. Southern Miss earned four of the next six points to lead again by two up 16-14, but the Green Wave got hot offensively and turned that deficit into an 18-16 lead to force a Southern Miss timeout.

A kill from Dinkins out of the timeout made it 19-16 Green Wave, as the visitors would find it tough to get anything going to make a game of it late, as Tulane closed out the set from the time it was 16-14 by going on a 11-2 run to claim the second set 25-18.

Southern Miss wouldn't get the opportunity to go on another hot start to open a set, as Tulane played the spoiler by opening the third set by going on a 5-2 run to start. But to Southern Miss' credit, the Golden Eagles hung tough and rallied to tie the set and eventually take the lead going up 9-7.

Tulane would spend much of the middle of the set trying to overcome the slim lead the visitors held, rallying to tie the set at 13-13 and 14-14, but Southern Miss countered with a 3-0 run to lead 17-14 and forcing Tulane into using a timeout. Still with a good bit of ground to make up for much of the set, Tulane finally started to get to the Golden Eagles, forcing the opposition into timeouts leading 21-18 and again up just one at 23-22.

By then Tulane looked to charge to take the set and end the match getting a kill from Kristen Thompson and a service ace from Douglas to give Tulane a 24-23 lead, but Southern Miss scored the next three points to end the set to extend the match with Southern Miss claiming the third 26-24.

Southern Miss used the momentum from winning the third set and opened the fourth by taking nine of the first 14 points to take a 9-5 lead over Tulane. The Green Wave got two points from Green and Doyle to cut the Southern Miss lead to just one at 9-8. Southern Miss was able to maintain its lead until it ran into some Tulane roadblocks, as a 14-12 lead evaporated thanks to an attacking error and pair of Green Wave blocks to trail 16-14 and call a timeout.

Tulane captured three of the next four points to push the lead to 19-15, but the Golden Eagles didn't fold and used a three-point swing to make it a one-point game down 19-18. After the home side called a timeout, the Green Wave locked down and saw out the rest of the match, getting six of the next eight points to clinch the match with a 25-20 set win.

"We were talking it every set about slow starts. They would jump out to the lead and we would have to put a lot of energy in to get it back and we put ourselves in jeopardy when that happens and it eventually got us in the third set," Barnes said. "We've got to have better quality touches, better sets, keep the ball in the court and not put ourselves at risk."

Tulane closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule on Saturday afternoon, traveling to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers at 2 p.m. inside the Maravich Center.

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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