Volleyball Sweeps Missouri State to Open Sugar Bowl Tournament

Friday, September 6

New Orleans, La.

6 PM

Tulane University

4-1

Missouri State

2-3

Missouri St.

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Volleyball Sweeps Missouri State to Open Sugar Bowl Tournament

Sep 6, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Tulane volleyball team put on an efficient all-around performance and opened the 2019 Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Volleyball Classic with a sweep of the Missouri State Bears 25-17, 25-22, 25-16 Friday night in New Orleans.

Looking to bounce back after suffering their first defeat on Tuesday night, the Green Wave (4-1) hit .239 as a group with 32 kills in the three sets, while defensively holding the Bears (2-3) to a .074 clip after producing 13 total team blocks and 33 digs in the victory.

Six different players had three or more kills in the contest, led by sophomore middle Kayla Dinkins who hit .357 with seven kills and seven blocks. Lauryn Green and Makala Heidelberg each finished with six, as Green hit a staggering .667 with six blocks, while Heidelberg had eight digs and five blocks.

Amanda Giardina led the setters with 16 assists, while Jenna Ibieta chipped in 14. Kaylie McHugh had 13 digs for Tulane, while Nicole Levine accounted for four of the Green Wave's seven service aces in the match.

Tulane turned a 6-4 deficit in the early portion of the first set into a 7-6 lead after a Douglas kill and two Levine service aces turned the tide for the Wave. From there, Tulane got hot offensively getting kills through the middle from Green and Dinkins to eventually go on outscore the Bears 5-1 to force a timeout leading 13-9.

Missouri State wound up calling its second timeout four points later trailing 16-10, but by that point Tulane was rolling and led by as many as 11 points in the frame. Missouri State would string a few more points together at the end of the set, Tulane proved to be too much finishing the set hitting .387 with 12 kills and no errors, taking the opener 25-17.

After six ties in the opening 12 points of the second set, Tulane got two unforced Bear errors around another Levine service ace to go up 9-6 early. Tulane would be able to get to double digits first, but MSU started to rally and put together a strong offense to eventually catch up to the Wave and take the lead going up 17-14.

The Bears offense stalled after that, with Tulane going on a six-point swing to reclaim the lead and force an MSU timeout now leading 20-17, with a solo block from Dinkins hammering that point home to go into the break.

MSU would only be able to get within two of the Green Wave for the rest of the set, staving off set point just twice as a kill from Douglas put Tulane up 2-0 with the 25-22 set victory.

Yvette Burcescu's fourth of her five kills of the match gave Tulane a 3-2 lead, Missouri State got one back to tie the third set at 3-3. From there, the Bears handed the Green Wave a five-point lead due to errors on the attack to push the lead for Tulane to 8-3 forcing a Bears timeout.

Missouri State didn't have any answers for the Tulane attack in the third, with the lead jumping from seven to as many as nine with the Green Wave leading 23-15, as the Bears fended off match point twice before the 11^th attack error of the set for Missouri State finished the match off to clinch the sweep for Tulane.

The Green Wave will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, taking on the HBU Huskies at 2 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.

WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.