Volleyball Falls to Ole Miss in Classic Finale Sunday

Sunday, September 8

New Orleans, La.

1 PM

Tulane University

5-2

Ole Miss

3-3

Ole Miss

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Volleyball Falls to Ole Miss in Classic Finale Sunday

Sep 8, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. – In the match of the weekend, the Tulane Green Wave volleyball team went toe-to-toe with the Ole Miss Rebels in a five-set thriller Sunday afternoon in Fogelman in Devlin, giving the opposition all it could handle but falling in five sets to put a close to the 2019 Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Volleyball Classic.

After taking two of the first three sets of the day, Tulane (5-2) would be unable to hold off the Rebels (3-3) in the final two sets, as all three sets Ole Miss wound up claiming on Sunday needed extra points to decide a winner.

Junior Lexie Douglas captured her second double-double of the week with her standout performance on Sunday, netting 20 kills and 20 digs against Ole Miss. Kayla Dinkins had 14 kills and five blocks for the Green Wave, followed by freshman Lauryn Green who had 13 kills on a .619 hitting clip with a pair of blocks and Erika Hansel's 13 kills, three blocks and two digs.

Jenna Ibieta earned her own double-double by leading the setters with 32 assists and 13 digs, while Amanda Giardina had 21 with seven digs and three service aces.

Senior Kaylie McHugh, who along with Green was named to the all-tournament team, was named the tournament's defensive MVP and finished the contest with a match-high 25 digs and 12 assists on Sunday, adding a service ace.

The match began as a barnburner, with both sides trading points throughout most of the first 20 of the first set. With Ole Miss leading 7-6, Tulane got an unforced error from the Rebels and a kill from Hansel to go up 8-7. After an Ole Miss kill, Tulane rattled off three straight will kills from Douglas, Hansel and another unforced error to go up 12-8 and force an Ole Miss timeout.

While Ole Miss was able to pull the first two points out of the timeout, the Green Wave outscored the Rebels 7-3 and forced the Rebels into their second timeout of the frame leading 19-13. A Green kill got Tulane to the 20-point mark leading 20-14, with another Hansel kill moving the line to 21-14. The Rebels scratched across a few more points, but the Wave would see the set out winning 25-17.

The Rebels jumped out to a 7-3 lead thanks to a 5-0 run when trailing the Green Wave 3-2 early to start the second set, but Tulane clawed back getting three points on the swing of three kills from Yvette Burcescu to pull within one at 7-6. After Ole Miss got the next two, Tulane got three more points to tie the set at 9-9.

Tulane would need to tie the game twice more at 10-10 and 11, before taking the lead on a Douglas kill to go up 12-11. On the front foot at that point, the Green Wave would go up 15-12 to gain a short bit of distance between themselves and the Rebels. However, trailing 16-14 the Rebels strung together four points and eight of the next 10 to go up 22-18.

The Rebels were up by four and staring at set point leading 24-20, but Tulane fended off set point with five consecutive points take the lead and go on top 25-24. Unfortunately, the rally ended there as Ole Miss tied the set on the next play and got the next two points in order to claim the second 27-25 and knot the match at 1-1.

After dropping the previous set, the Green Wave couldn't have asked for a better start to open the third scoring each of the first four points with a pair of kills from Douglas, one from Hansel and another from Dinkins. Tulane would take nine of the first 12 to go on top 9-3 and force Ole Miss into a timeout. The Rebels would have to call their second as Tulane went ahead 14-7, falling further behind.

It would be too much for the visitors to overcome and the gulf between the two sides would only widen, as after an Ole Miss point to force Tulane into a timeout with the Green Wave leading 16-11, the squad scored seven straight points to go up 23-11, eventually closing out the set winning 25-15 to take a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth, at a 2-2 draw, a block from Burcescu and Dinkins followed by a Giardina service ace gave Tulane a 5-2 advantage to open. It would stay a close affair for much of the early portion of the set, as a Green kill got Tulane to double figures first up 10-6. Although the next four points would split between the two sides, Ole Miss called a timeout with Tulane leading 14-10.

A block from Dinkins and Douglas, followed by an overpass kill from Dinkins out of the break made it 16-10 Tulane, as a three-point swing after that forced the home side into a timeout leading 16-13. After another Dinkins kill to make it 17-13, Ole Miss got the next four in order to tie the match and force Tulane into its second timeout of the set.

From there it felt as if it was a brand-new match as it became a race to the 25-point mark with each side trading blows and looking to counter. Trailing 22-20, Tulane got consecutive kills from Douglas to tie the match and force Ole Miss into its final timeout. The rally continued from there as a kill from Dinkins, followed by a block from Hansel and Dinkins made it 24-22. Unfortunately, the run ended there as the Rebels closed out the set winning the next four points to win 26-24.

Ole Miss jumped out early and led by as many as two through the early portion of the fifth set. With the Rebels leading 7-6, Tulane got a kill from Hansel and an Ole Miss attacking error to take its first lead up 8-7. Still, Ole Miss would pull the next three to go on top 10-8. A kill from Douglas made it 10-9, but the Rebels did enough to keep the lead at two points going up 12-10 and forcing Tulane into its final timeout.

After the rest, Tulane got a kill from Dinkins and Heidelberg to tie the set again at 12-12. An attacking error by the Rebels gave Tulane a 13-12 lead. Ole Miss got the next two back to go up 14-13, but another Rebel attack error knotted the game at 14-14. Tulane tied the match again at 15-15, but the Rebels saw out the set getting the final two points to claim the match 17-15.

Tulane will be back in action on Tuesday, heading to the Lakefront to take on the New Orleans Privateers at 6:30 p.m. at the HPE Center.

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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