Tulane Drops Five-Set Thriller in 2026 Season Opener

Friday, August 28

NEW ORLEANS

6:30 p.m.

Tulane University

0-1,0-0American

North Dakota State

1-0,0-0Summit League

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
North Dakota St.	20	25	25	22	15	3
Tulane	25	19	22	25	12	2

Photo by: Parker Waters

Tulane Drops Five-Set Thriller in 2026 Season Opener

Aug 28, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Wyatt Streett

NEW ORLEANS – In what was a relatively even match-up, the Tulane Green Wave volleyball team fought back to force a fifth set Friday night against the North Dakota State Bison, but the Wave ultimately fell just short inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. The back-and-forth contest went the way of the Bison (25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 25-22, 12-15) as the sides opened both the 2026 campaign and the Green Wave Classic.

Statistically, the squads played each other quite evenly with Tulane holding slight edges in kills (63-57), assists (58-51), and digs (58-50). Aces and blocks were tied at seven and six apiece, respectively. Efficiency was the main area that NDSU controlled, however, as the Bison hit .248 with 21 errors on the night compared to Tulane's .235 clip and 28 miscues. The Wave only hit over .300 in two sets – the victorious first and fourth frames. Likewise, the Bison only eclipsed .300 in their three sets of triumph.

Lauryn Mack led the attack for Tulane with 17 kills as one of three Wave players in double figures. Chloe List notched 12 kills as Riley Tucker added 11. Mack also paced the team at the service line with three aces, the only Tulane player with multiple. Maddy McLin led the blocking efforts with four denials, and Tucker contributed three.

Charlee Solomon dished out 47 assists to feed the offense. She recorded a double-double in her Green Wave debut with a team-best 16 digs, and Mack's career-high-tying 12 were not far behind to provide her a double-double as well. With 10 digs, Makena Lim rounded out a Tulane trio in double-digits.

NDSU opened the contest on a roll by claiming the first three points, but Maddy McLin got to work with a kill and an ace to get Tulane on the board for the first time this season. The Bison looked to be pulling away in the middle goings of what had been a see-saw set, as they led 15-10, but a Charlee Solomon kill sparked a three-point Wave run. Tulane later pulled ahead as Solomon's ace tied the contest, and Avery Burks delivered a kill for an 18-17 edge. Though the Bison pulled level, Tulane rattled off three more in a row for a 21-18 advantage, and NDSU was unable to fight back from there. McLin's block brought about set point, and despite a Bison kill, NDSU's subsequent error capped a set one victory for the Wave, 25-20.

Set two was another tight battle with Tulane holding the early advantage 7-3 after a Chloe List kill and NDSU error. From there, the Bison would close the gap and entrench themselves in a back-and-forth fight in which neither side led by more than three points again until near the end of the frame when NDSU pulled ahead 22-18. Lauryn Mack provided a block to keep Tulane hunting, but the Bison rolled off a three-point run to claim set two 25-19 and even up the match at one set apiece. After hitting just .133 in the opening set, the Bison posted a mark of .367 in the second set. On the flip side, Tulane fell from a .367 set one clip to a percentage of .121 in the second frame.

The third stanza again saw Tulane pull out to a quick 7-3 lead, this time behind Mack's ace. NDSU kept fighting back, but the Wave held the Bison at arm's length as List's kill made the Tulane lead 15-10 in the middle portion of the frame. Mack added another ace later for a 17-12 lead, but a three-point NDSU run shortened the gap to 17-15. The Bison pulled level at 19-19, but kills from Solomon and Tucker pushed Tulane back in front 21-19. NDSU tied the set again at 21-21, and after another Tucker score, the Bison posted a four-point run to take set three 25-22 and claim a 2-1 overall lead in the match.

Needing a response, Tulane came out fighting in set four as both sides went blow-for-blow. The squads kept trading scores as neither team held a lead of at least three points until the 15-12 mark midway through as Tulane's three-point run provided a lead and some needed momentum for the Wave. McLin and Burks posted back-to-back kills for an 18-14 lead, and tandem block by Solomon and Tucker later marked a 20-15 advantage. Not going down quietly, NDSU pushed back to pull within 23-22, but Mack took matters into her own hands with back-to-back kills to seal a 25-22 set four triumph, tying the match and forcing a winner-take-all fifth set.

The decisive frame opened in Tulane's favor behind a pair of NDSU errors. After a Bison score, Mack again delivered a kill for a 3-1 lead. The Bison closed the gap and eventually led 6-5, but McLin provided an equalizer. From there, the teams continued to trade off scores until the pattern broke with a pair of Bison points for an 11-9 NDSU lead. Mack's kill brought the Wave to within one, but the Bison scored three in a row for match point at 14-10. Ever resilient, Tulane kept fighting as McLin notched a kill before Mack sent home an ace. Despite these efforts, NDSU claimed a kill to seal the set at 15-12 and the match at 3-2.

The Green Wave Classic continues tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. with a neutral-site match-up between North Dakota State and Tennessee Tech. Tulane will return to the court on Sunday, August 30, for the finale of the tournament when the Green Wave takes on the Golden Eagles at 12:00 p.m. The contest in Fogelman in Devlin will cap the opening weekend of play and will be streamed on ESPN+.

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