Nov. 12, 2010

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. -

Tulane 3, Memphis 0

Memphis (15-12, 6-9 C-USA)     19  23  26
Tulane (10-18, 7-9 C-USA)      25  25  28

Memphis setter Hajnalka Molnar set 34 assists and added 10 digs for her team-leading seventh double of the year, but Tulane got a combined 25 kills from its middle blocking tandem to take the Tigers down 3-0 in Conference USA action, Friday night at Fogelman Arena.

"Tulane had a good game plan and kept mixing it up," said head coach April Jauregui. "We were playing catch-up the whole match. We did fine on our side, offensively, but struggled defensively. We made changes in game three, which helped."

Tulane hit a scorching .640 on 17 kills in the opening set and finished the night hitting .352.

Marija Jovanovic landed a team-high 14 kills and Altrese Hawkins connected for 12 kills and hit .391 for the Memphis offense.

The U of M hit .385 in the opening set, but was unable to an early run by the Green Wave. Tulane used a four-point push to break an 8-8 tie and extended the lead to 19-12 late in the set. Memphis managed to close the gap to four points three times, but did not help its cause with three service errors in a 25-19 loss.

Tulane jumped out to a 5-1 lead to start the second set and never trailed. The Wave maintained the four-point cushion until Memphis put together a 4-1 surge midway through the set. Consecutive kills by Hawkins trimmed the Tiger's deficit to 16-15, and Jovanovic drilled a kill to knot the set at 17-all. However, Tulane came back with scores on six of the next eight rallies to grab a comfortable 23-19 lead. Memphis forced three-straight Tulane offensive errors to get within one, at 23-22. Jelic downed a kill to make it 24-23, but Memphis could not find the equalizer as Tulane took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

Trailing 14-10 in the third, Hawkins struck for a kill to ignite a Memphis rally that ended with a kill by Jelic for a 20-19 Tiger lead. An attacking error by the Green Wave extended the U of M lead to two-points. But Memphis was unable to maintain the advantage. Memphis held two match-point serve, but Tulane connected on kills on both occasions. An Tiger hitting error gave Tulane a 26-25 advantage, which they never relinquished.

Christine Bach was the bright spot for the Tiger defense, leading the way with 14 digs.

Memphis will return to action on Sun., Nov. 14, when they battle Southern Miss. First serve is set for 1 p.m. at Reed Green Coliseum.