Volleyball Upends Tigers in Four Saturday

Saturday, September 21

Baton Rouge, LA

2 PM

Tulane University

10-3

LSU

6-4

Tulane

LSU

Photo by: Parker Waters

Sep 21, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. – Dropping the first set in the team's final non-conference match of the regular season, and holding off a near-comeback in the second, the Tulane volleyball team produced an efficient and dominating performance in a win over the LSU Tigers in four sets 18-25, 26-24, 25-11, 25-11 Saturday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

After being held to a sub-.100 hitting clip in the opening set, Tulane (10-3) roared back by hitting .342 in the second, .244 in the third and a stifling .462 in the clincher, finishing the match with a .268 hitting percentage as a group. By that same token, Tulane became a defensive force in the second half of the match, as LSU (6-4) hit in the negatives in the final two sets, hitting .106 as a team as the Green Wave put up 11.5 blocks in the match.

"I think the biggest thing is we've really come together as a team. We haven't been hitting on all cylinders all preseason, and we've had some nicked-up players in Makala and Erika, but they had by far their best matches of the night and when we have them healthy, we're a complete team," head coach Jim Barnes said.

Senior Erika Hansel finished the match leading all players with 11 kills on a .268 hitting percentage, adding two digs and two blocks. Kayla Dinkins had seven blocks and hit .316 in the contest with nine kills on 19 swings, while fellow middle Lauryn Green had eight kills and hit .471, and Yvette Burcescu had eight kills, four digs and two blocks.

Setter Amanda Giardina finished the day with 21 assists, six digs and two kills, while Jenna Ibieta earned her second double-double of the year with 19 assists and 10 digs.

Makala Heidelberg had eight kills and hit .261 with two service aces, while leading the team with 18 digs and chipping in four blocks. Kaylie McHugh had 14 digs and added six assists and a service ace.

After both sides traded the lead in the opening points of the match, Tulane used a 3-0 run to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead over the Tigers in the first set.

A kill by Dinkins and an LSU attacking error around a Tiger point pushed the team's lead to 7-4, but the home side began to grow into the match and went on to outscore the Green Wave 8-2 over the course of the next 10 points to go on top 12-9 and force Tulane into a timeout.

Points by Douglas, Hansel and Dinkins pulled the Green Wave to within one of the Tigers down 13-12, however from there the Tigers began to take over and reeled off four consecutive points as Tulane called its second timeout trailing LSU 17-12.

Tulane would only be able to get as close as three points to the Tigers for the rest of the set, as LSU closed out the opening frame on a 4-0 run to capture the first set with a 25-18 set victory.

There were five ties within the first 10 points of the second set, as with the score knotted at 5-5, LSU got four consecutive points to go up 9-5 over the Green Wave. However, Tulane got its stride back and went on a 3-0 swing to pull within one down 9-8.

After an LSU point to make it 10-8, the Wave began to roll and used a four-point swing to take a 12-10 lead and force LSU into a timeout. The Tigers got just two more points over the course of the next eight as the Green Wave extended its lead to 18-12 forcing the home side into using their last timeout of the set.

The Tigers were able to make a game of it late, scoring 12 of the next 18 points to tie the set at 24, but a Heidelberg kill ended the LSU rally and an attacking error by the Tigers gave Tulane the set at 26-24 to even the match at a set a piece.

After that scare in the previous set, the Green Wave came out in the third energized by the win and showed out in a big way, as with the set tied at 7-all, the Green Wave went on an unprecedented 12-0 run to take a staggering 19-7 lead over the Tigers.

LSU would manage just four points after that for the rest of the set as the Green Wave left no doubts finishing the set off with three consecutive points to take the two sets to one lead with the 25-11.

The Tigers were looking for a different start in the fourth, but Tulane pulled no punches opening the set on a 4-0 run, getting a kill from Ibieta, an ace from Heidelberg and two LSU attacking errors. The Tigers earned three of the next six points, as the gulf widened from there with Tulane pulling off a 8-0 swing to go on top 15-3.

LSU called its final timeout of the match trailing the Green Wave 18-5 hoping to stop the Tulane onslaught, but the Tigers would find tough sledding for the rest of the match as the Olive and Blue closed the match going on a 7-5 run, including closing out the match on three consecutive points, to put the set away and the match with a 25-11 set victory.

"I think the most significant thing for us as a team is to keep growing and getting that confidence, because we haven't quite been that confident team we were last year," Barnes said. "This year there's a lot of expectations, so it's different and we have the ability to be the best team in our league, but we're going to need to have more games like this when we're really locked in."

Tulane returns home next Friday to open American Athletic Conference play against Memphis at 7 p.m. inside Fogelman in Devlin.

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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