Volleyball Stays Unbeaten in Conference With win Over SMU in Five

Sunday, September 29

New Orleans, La.

1 PM

Tulane University

12-3, 2-0American

SMU

7-5, 0-2American

SMU

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Volleyball Stays Unbeaten in Conference With win Over SMU in Five

Sep 29, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – After winning a thriller on Friday night, the Tulane volleyball team remained unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play after earning a five-set win over the SMU Mustangs, 19-25, 25-19, 27-25, 17-25, 15-10 Sunday afternoon in New Orleans.

After dropping the first set, Tulane (12-3, 2-0 The American) took the next two against SMU (7-5, 0-2) and saved its best for last in the fifth to remain unbeaten in conference play and extend the team's winning streak to four matches.

"I'm proud of us for sticking together. We weren't consistent, but we have a lot of fight in us and SMU fought hard as well," head coach Jim Barnes said. "I'm proud of the team coming together, different people on our team picking up their game and helping us get the win."

Three Green Wave players finished the match with double figure kills, paced by Makala Heidelberg who had a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs. The middle duo of Lauryn Green and Kayla Dinkins combined for 21 kills and 15 blocks, as Green had 11 kills and six blocks while Dinkins had 10 kills on a .333 hitting percentage and nine blocks.

Combining for 46 of the team's 54 assists, Jenna Ibieta finished the match with 24 while Amanda Giardina had 22. Ibieta, along with Nicole Levine, had two service aces and added seven digs while Giardina had five digs and a kill.

Senior Kaylie McHugh led all players with 24 digs for Tulane, chipping in five assists and a service ace.

The Mustangs were the first to serve to open the match and earned the first two points before the Green Wave were able to counter with a kill from Green and a SMU attacking error. The two sides played close to the tune of six ties and four lead changes, but after a service ace from Levine to give Tulane a 7-6 lead, SMU scored eight of the next nine points to go up 14-8.

Tulane broke the run with two kills from Green and a block from Green and Lexie Douglas to make the score 14-11. From there, Tulane would be unable to go on another hot streak as the deficit proved to be too great, calling its final timeout as SMU was up 23-17 before going on to pull out the first set 25-19.

SMU opened the second by taking the first three points of the new set, with Tulane once again having to rally to tie and did getting a kill from Douglas and consecutive unforced SMU errors to even the set at 3-3. From there the set would see four ties and just one lead change, but after SMU tied the set at 6-6 after a kill, the Green Wave got a Heidelberg kill and another Levine service ace to go up 8-6.

That two-point swing gave Tulane just enough of a lead to hold off the Mustangs for much of the next few points, as SMU called its first timeout of the match after the home side's lead grew to 16-12 after another Douglas kill.

Tulane seemed to get stronger as the set went on, as by the time the Green Wave evened the match at 1-1 with the 25-19 score the group hit .304 while accounting for seven team blocks and three service aces, while SMU went from hitting .324 in the first set to just .167 in the second.

The Green Wave wasted little time in jumping on the Mustangs early to open the third, claiming five of the first seven points to go up 5-2. Tulane never relinquished the lead throughout the early portion of the set, reaching double-digits leading the Mustangs 10-7.

However, Tulane would be forced into using both of their timeouts before reaching the 15-point plateau, as with the team leading 13-10 the Mustangs outscored the Green Wave 7-1 to take a 16-14 lead. Fortunately, the team battled back with a 4-0 run, getting a kill from Yvette Burcescu and three attack errors from SMU, with two coming in the form of blocks from Green and Erika Hansel to go up 18-16 and force the visitors into a timeout.

The Mustangs burned through their second timeout as Tulane was clicking and scored three more points out of the break to go up 21-16 in the midst of a 7-0 run. After that break, SMU went on a 7-1 run to charge back and take the lead at 22-21. An attack error and a Dinkins kill stopped the rally to get Tulane to set point, but the Green Wave would have to hold off another SMU rally, doing so by getting a kill from Douglas and a block from Heidelberg and Dinkins to put Tulane up 2-1 with the 27-25 set victory.

With SMU on the brink, the visitors opened the fourth brightly and jumped out to a 9-4 lead, with Tulane calling a timeout to stop the run. The Wave would be forced into using their second trailing the Mustangs 13-6.

Tulane continued to fight throughout the fourth, as the Wave continued to push SMU and got the opposition to call a timeout after getting outscored 4-3 to cut the lead to 21-16. The Mustangs buckled down from there, sending the match to a fifth set after claiming the fourth 25-17.

The Green Wave couldn't have asked for a better start to open the final set, earning the first three points before SMU could counter, earning two more after that to take a 5-1 lead over the Mustangs after a Green kill. SMU was able to get a pair of points, but the Mustangs needed a timeout as Tulane went up 7-3.

After trading the next seven points, a Giardina ace made it 11-6 in favor of the Wave and SMU had to call its final timeout of the match. With Tulane leading 12-6, the Mustangs scored three consecutive points to cut the lead to three, but a kill from Burcescu made it 13-9, followed by a Heidelberg kill to put Tulane at match point.

SMU held off the Wave once but wouldn't be able to do it again as Dinkins found an open space in the middle of the court to end the match for the Green Wave 15-10.

"At this point we're trying to be our best team, and the two things that help us do that are when Kayla Dinkins is the aggressor the rest of our team really follows. It's important that she's the aggressor and part of our offense and she's a great blocker," Barnes said. "The other is Lexie Douglas, and not for the attacking but when people are going after her on serve-receive. She locked down and passed really well and that's what gave us a chance to win today and will help us going forward."

Tulane returns to the court on Friday, hosting the Houston Cougars 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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