The Wave Returns to Uptown

NEW ORLEANS- The Tulane University volleyball team is eager to be back home this weekend for two American Athletic Conference matches as it hosts Southern Methodist University and the University of Memphis. Both contests will take place inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

The Green Wave (8-19, 3-13 AAC) will first take on Southern Methodist University (20-8, 13-3 AAC) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before returning to the court to face the University of Memphis (17-12, 7-9 AAC) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

RECAP-
The Green Wave fought hard last weekend but ended up dropping its first match in four sets to Wichita (14-12, 9-6 AAC) by scores of (14-25, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25) on Friday and had a similar outcome on Sunday, falling in five to the University of Tulsa (12-15, 5-10 AAC) by scores of (25-15, 25-18, 23-25, 26-28, 13-15).

The Olive and Blue showed its talents on the road in Wichita, Kansas. In its first weekend matchup against Wichita State, outside hitter Melissa Kolurbasi led the Green Wave with 12 kills, hitting .318 overall. Martin claimed three digs, two blocks, and 14.5 points. Kayla Kaiser got in her fair share with nine kills, averaging a .350 hitting percentage. Libero Jillian Dits carried the defensive duties with 21 digs and six assists. Freshman setter Katherine Crosley moved the ball well, tallying 19 assists, two kills, and six digs. The Green Wave posted 45 kills, 38 assists, eight aces, 64 digs, seven blocks, and a 43.5% passing rate.

Against the Golden Hurricane, Tulane had four players register double-digit kills, with Mackenzie Martin's 18 leading the way. Amarachi Osuji, Kolubasi and Kaiser posted 14. Dits had 40 digs to lead the defensive effort. As a team, Tulane out-blocked the Golden Hurricane 9-3.

QUICK HITS-

Osuji leads the team with 284 kills this season.
Skylar Bumpers leads the team with 56 total blocks this season.
Tulane owns the AAC's fifth-best hitting percentage at .214.
Tulane is fourth in the AAC in kills with 1326, averaging 12.39 a set.
The Green Wave is eighth as a team in service aces (AAC) with 144, an average of 1.35 aces a set.
Kaiser is seventh in the AAC in hitting percentage at .316.
The team's total of 1652 digs lands Tulane fourth in the AAC with an average of 15.44.
Van Houten is sixth in the AAC for assists averaging 8.49 a set.

MATCHUPS-
SMU is currently 20-8 this season and ranked third in the AAC standings. Last week, the Mustangs added two conference victories, taking a 3-set match (25-14, 25-19, 25-23) over East Carolina (10-18) on Friday. The Mustangs returned to the court on Sunday and recorded another 3-0 win (25-10, 25-17, 25-21) against the Temple University Owls (10-17) inside Moody Coliseum in Dallas.

Memphis holds a 17-12 record on the 2022 campaign and is ranked fifth in the AAC standings. The Tigers suffered a 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 25-22, 25-14) loss to Temple (10-17, 4-12 AAC) on Friday and fell to East Carolina (10-18, 5-11 AAC) in five sets on Sunday by scores of (23-25, 25-13, 27-25,19-25, 15-12) in the Finch Center. The Tigers will face league-leader Houston (25-2), on Friday before traveling to New Orleans on Sunday.

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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.

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Players Mentioned

Katherine Crosley

Jillian Dits

Kayla Kaiser

Melissa Kolurbasi

Mackenzie Martin

Amarachi Osuji

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