Sept. 8, 2006

Box Score

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Tulane University volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season Friday night against the University of Iowa at the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge, falling 3-0 (30-23, 30-22, 30-24). Sophomore outside hitter Sara Radosevic led the Green Wave with 14 kills while freshman outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic added 13.

Tulane is now 3-1 on the year, while Iowa improves to 6-1. Iowa was paced by nine kills each from Catherine Smale, Jen Barcus and Melanie Meister in the marquee game of the tournament.

"When you play a well organized team from a power conference like Iowa, there is no room for sloppy play," said Green Wave head coach Liz Kritza. "When you have this young of a team, it has to be a team effort in every sense of the word. Everyone has an important role to play, and if everyone takes responsibility for their role, it will come together."

Green Wave freshman libero Jenn Miller pulled out 14 digs, while sophomore setter Luna Rebrovic added 30 more assists to her season total and chipped in nine digs.

Game one was all Hawkeyes as the host hit .306 to take the game, 30-23. Iowa closed the second game with a 7-0 run for the 30-22 win, and slammed the door with a 30-24. For the match, Iowa out-hit Tulane .284 to .142 in front of a crowd of 942 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"We see improvement every time we step on the court," Kritza added. "We'll learn from this. The valuable lesson this early in the season is that you have to execute a game plan, and learn to adjust as the match progresses."

On Saturday, the Green Wave will take on Florida Atlantic University at noon, followed by a match versus the University of Missouri-Kansas City at 5:00 p.m. as the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge continues. Both matches will have live stats available via Gametracker at www.TulaneGreenWave.com. In the tournament's opening match on Friday, FAU defeated UMKC, 3-1 (30-27, 30-26, 26-30, 30-18).