Sept. 8, 2007

Box Score

Los Angeles - The No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers topped the Tulane volleyball team Saturday at the LMU Hilton LAX Invitational at Gersten Pavilion, 3-0 (30-27, 30-22,30-27). Tulane, which receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 this week at number 41, falls to 7-2.

Wisconsin - with three front line players 6-foot-3 or taller - used their height advantage up front to out-block Tulane 11-6 and improve to 7-1 on the season.

Ksenija Vlaskovic , a 6-1 outside hitter, led Tulane with 12 kills. Fellow 6-1 outside hitter Sara Radosevic added eight kills and 11 digs. Six-foot middle blocker Jen Linder added seven kills while hitting .600 for the match with three assisted blocks. Bridget Wells, Tulane's only player taller than six-foot one, standing at six-foot-three, recorded three blocks and four kills for the Wave.

"Despite the result in the loss column, we put forth a competitive performance on the court this morning against Wisconsin," head coach Liz Kritza said. "It came down to minimizing errors and capitalizing on scoring opportunities, especially against teams of this caliber."

"We have to learn from each of these preconference matches, win or lose, and we learned a valuable lesson in keeping our sideout efficiency numbers up to remain competitive at any level." "While disappointed with the loss, we will take some positives from this match: how closely we competed in games one and three with the number 10 team in the country."

Caity Dupont led the Badgers with 13 kills, while Katherine Dykstra added 10 kills and six assisted blocks. Taylor Reineke chipped in eight kills and seven assisted blocks for the Badgers of the Big Ten.

Tulane opened to a 6-3 lead in game one off kills from Jen Linder and Amaris Genemaras, Back-to-back kills from Radosevic made it 9-6 Wave before a pair of blocks by the Badgers tied the game at 11-11. Following a kill by Wells, Wisconsin reeled off four straight points for an 18-15 advantage. The Badgers front row turned in four blocks to calm the Tulane offense and take a 29-23 lead before a solo block from the Wave's Lauren Boatwright and a service ace from Rachel Lindelow fended off game point. But Wisconsin's Caity DuPont put away a kill for a 30-27 win in game one.

A block from Linder and Wells and a service ace from Linder helped the Wave draw to within 9-8 in game two, but a Taylor Reineke led a 6-2 Badger run with a pair of kills. Off a pair of kills from Linder, the Wave inched closer to 17-13, but Katherine Dykstra posted four kills and two blocks as Wisconsin stretched the lead to ten at 26-16. Linder held cut that margin in half with two more kills and by teaming with Wells for a block, but the Badgers closed it out with a block by Reineke for the 30-22 win. Tulane held Wisconsin to a .200 hitting percentage, but the Badgers turned in six blocks to hold the Wave to just .061 in the second frame.

The Wave grabbed an 8-3 lead in game three following three kills from Vlaskovic and a block by Linder and setter Rachel Lindelow. The Badgers rallied back to tie the game at 12-12. Vlaskovic and Linder posted kills and Vlaskovic recorded back-to-back service aces for a 20-18 advantage. But the Badgers responded with a kill from Reineke for a 24-21 lead. Kills from Linder and Vlaskovic drew Tulane to within 29-27, but after being thwarted on match point twice, Audra Jeffers recorded her ninth kill of the match to end it for Wisconsin.

Tulane finishes the LMU Hilton LAX Invitational at 7 p.m. CT against Columbia (0-1).