Oct. 3, 2003

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Four players posted double-digit kill totals and the defense posted 68 digs and 10 blocks as the Tulane University volleyball team overcame a slow start to defeat TCU 3-1 in the Conference USA opener for both teams Friday evening in Fogelman Arena.

The Green Wave found themselves on the wrong end of a 30-21 decision at the end of game one, but battled back to take the next three games 30-28, 30-23, 30-28. With the victory, Tulane runs its winning streak to seven games and improves to 14-2 on the year. TCU, meanwhile, falls to 14-5.

"Our team learned tonight that we have to know that we have to come out of the gate ready and play well from the start," head coach Betsy Becker said. "Our warmup was blasé, it looked like we had tar on our heels in the first game, and then we had a huge momentum shift between games one and two and we surged from there."

Junior middle blocker Deva Fowler posted a match-high 17 kills and tallied five blocks to spark the Green Wave offense. Junior outside hitter Anastasia Kenon was next with 16 kills, followed by senior middle blocker Kim Swafford with 14 and junior outside hitter Lindsey Norman with 11.

Kenon paced the Tulane defense with a match-best 19 digs, and senior libero Karlyn Daly joined Kenon in the double-digit dig club with 16. The Green Wave out-blocked TCU 10-7 and were sparked by freshman right-side hitter Sara Thorson who posted three kills and two blocks in two games of work.

"I'm proud of our team for making an adjustment from our game plan," Becker said. "Our captains emerged as leaders and I thought Sara Thorson was a key to stopping their left-side attack. Our passing and our defense picked up at the end and we had a balanced attack which allowed us to confuse TCU. But give credit to TCU because they're a good team, and they're going to win a lot of matches this year."

TCU, which came into the weekend leading C-USA with 2.80 service aces per game, were held without a single ace by the Green Wave while the Horned Frogs committed 14 service errors. Tulane, meanwhile, posted seven service aces, including three by Swafford and two each by sophomore setters Katie Case and Kelli Dickson.

Ellen Rehme led the Horned Frog attack with 16 kills, followed by Dominika Szabo with 13 and Jenna Miller with 11. Szabo paced TCU's defense with 15 digs while Jenna Miller had 14, and both Rehme and Tori Borlow each had 12.

The Green Wave returns to action on Saturday when Tulane plays host to C-USA foe Houston at 7 p.m. For ticket information to that and future Green Wave events, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.