Tulane Rallies to Defeat Tigers in Five Sets

Friday, October 2

Memphis, TN

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

11-2,3-0American

Memphis

6-9,1-3American

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Tulane	25	18	24	25	15	3
Memphis	17	25	26	20	11	2

Oct 2, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tulane volleyball (11-2, 3-0) extended its winning streak to seven matches in a row after coming from behind to beat Memphis (6-9, 1-2) 3-2 on the road Friday night. The Green Wave bounced back after dropping the second and third sets to the Tigers to win sets four and five to remain unbeaten in conference play.

With the win, the Tulane starts American Conference play 3-0 for the first time since joining the league in 2014. It is also the Wave's best start in league action since opening competition in Conference USA 3-0 in 2009. The seven-match win streak for the Green Wave is the longest for the program since winning 11 in a row in 2018.

Four players recorded double digit kills to lead the offensive attack for the Wave. Lauryn Mack paced all players in the match with a career-high 20 kills to go with nine digs and three total blocks. She was followed by the trio of Riley Tucker with 12 kills, and Avery Burks and Maddy McLin with 11 each. From the service line freshman Kailey Leonard made a major impact for Tulane posting a season-high five aces.

Charlee Solomon set up the offense for the Green Wave as she registered 50 assists to mark her second match of the season with at least 50 assists. She also tallied six kills, six digs, and a pair of blocks.

Defensively, the duo of Makena Lim and Dayla Ortiz paced the backline for the Wave with double digit digs. Lim led the team with 14 while adding four assists while Ortiz posted 10 digs, three assists, and an ace. At the net Tulane recorded nine total blocks with Tucker leading the way with six followed by Mack and Chloe List with three each.

In the opening set of action from Memphis the Green Wave put the first point of the night on the board before the Tigers responded to put Tulane behind 5-7 early. The Wave was ready with an answer mounting a 10-1 scoring run to claim control of the set with a 15-8 advantage.

Tulane never looked back in the first set maintaining at least a five-point advantage over Memphis. The Green Wave ultimately took a 1-0 lead in the match by securing the opening frame 25-17.

The Tigers flipped the script on the Wave in the second set as Tulane fell behind from the start. Memphis opened with a 4-0 run before the Green Wave began to fight back.

Tulane battled to pull within three at 6-9, but the Tigers answered with six-straight points to put the Green Wave behind 6-15. Despite trailing 9-21 the Wave did not quit battling cutting its deficit to six (17-23), but unfortunately the comeback was not to be as Tulane dropped the second set 18-25 to even the match 1-1.

The third set featured a back-and-forth battle between the Green Wave and the Tigers. Memphis put the pressure on the Wave late with a 4-0 run to put Tulane down 15-20, but the Green Wave immediately answered with four-straight to pull back within one at 19-20. After Memphis reached set-point Tulane rallied to even the score at 24-24, but the next two points went to the Tigers as the Wave lost the set 24-26.

In the fourth set Tulane recorded three-straight kills to score the first three points and play from in front in the set. The Wave maintained the advantage throughout the frame eventually extending its lead to as many as five at 21-16 before ultimately evening the match 2-2 with a 25-20 set win.

Tulane jumped on Memphis to begin the final set building a 5-1 lead before the Tigers were forced to call a timeout. The brief stoppage did not deter the Green Wave from pushing its advantage to 12-6 on back-to-back aces from Leonard.

Memphis did not go down without a fight cutting the Wave lead down to 12-10, but Burks closed the door on the Tigers with an ace to secure the set 15-11 and the match 3-2 for Tulane.

UP NEXT
The Wave will welcome Wichita State to Uptown for its first home conference match of the season on Sunday, October 4. The contest between Tulane and the Shockers is set for 1 p.m. inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

TICKETS
Tickets can be purchased by calling 504-861-WAVE (9283), logging on to TulaneTix.com or visiting the ticket office at the James W. Wilson Jr. Center.

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