University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Tulane
Volleyball Sweeps Weekend with 3-1 Win at Tulane
Oct 30, 2006 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2006
NEW ORLEANS -
Memphis 3, Tulane 1
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Memphis (23-5; 9-3 C-USA) 30 25 30 30 Tulane (11-10; 7-5 C-USA) 26 30 25 27
Sarah Bury led all players with 20 kills and Laura Côté dished out 52 assists offensively, while Christen Clayton made 24 digs and Melissa Nance made a career-high 10 blocks, as the Tigers improved to 23-5 with a 3-1 win over Tulane Sunday afternoon. Memphis improves to 9-3 in Conference USA play.
Memphis had four players record 10 or more kills, led by Bury's 20. Shelby Burton and Ashley Liford downed 12 kills, while Nance finished with 11 kills. Memphis made a season-high 18 blocks. Colette Ramirez and Burton made six blocks, and Côté and Liford each had five rejects. For the match, Memphis recorded 30 block assists.
Down 15-10, Memphis used six Tulane hitting errors to make a 9-1 run and take a 19-17 lead. The Green Wave battled to claim a 26-24 lead late in the game to threaten a fifth set. But a kill by Bury followed by a kill by Côté knotted the game at 26. Burton capped a 5-0 run with her 12th kill of the night and Liford ended the match with a kill.
The two teams see-sawed through nine ties and three lead changes in the opening frame. The Tigers emerged with a 16-14 lead midway through the set, but the Green Wave promptly posted a 6-1 run to pull ahead 20-17. A kill by Liford ignites a Memphis rally that saw the Tigers erased the three-point deficit by scoring on eight of the next 11 rallies to surge 26-23. The Tigers used a strong 5-0 run in the rally to take the lead for good. The Wave out hit Memphis by three points (.265-.262) and had two more digs (17-15), but a 16-14 advantage in kills and four service aces proved to be the difference in 30-26 Memphis win.
Tulane broke a 17-17 tie with a 4-0 push, and controlled the set from there to tie the match a 1-1 going into the intermission. After taking a 21-17 lead, Tulane extended its cushion to six points on three occasions, with the last coming at 28-22. Memphis hit just .176 in the game and did not help its cause by committing four service errors.
The Memphis block proved to be the deciding factor in a 30-25 game three win. Both teams downed 17 kills and served up a pair of aces, but Tulane led the assists battle and had a19-15 lead in defensive digs. The Tigers won the battle at the net, 5.0-0.0. Tulane cut an early Memphis lead to 13-12 before the Tigers answered with a 6-2 push for a 19-14 lead. The Green Wave again chipped away at the U of M lead and trimmed it to 21-19. A pair of kills by Bury and a service ace by Clayton gave Memphis its largest lead at 26-20, and Tulane never threatened.
Sara Radosevic led Tulane with a double-double of 19 kills and 14 digs, and Ksenija Vlaskovic added 11 kills and 10 digs. Jenn Miller led all players with 26 digs
Memphis will now return home, where it has a 13-match win streak, to take on Marshall and ECU on Fri., Nov. 3 and Sat., Nov. 5. Friday evening's match versus Marshal is set for 7 p.m.
