Oct. 19, 2004

Final Stats

NEW ORLEANS, La. - It was not always pretty, it was not always well executed and it was not always easy to watch, but in the end, the Tulane University volleyball team simply found a way to win a 3-2 battle over cross-town foe UNO Tuesday night at Lakefront Arena.

After the Green Wave won game one 30-25, the Privateers won game two 30-21 a string of 12 consecutive Tulane game-victories dating back to the 2002 season. The two teams traded the next two stanzas, with Tulane winning game three 30-26 and UNO taking game four 30-27, it would be the Green Wave who emerged victorious in the final contest with a 15-10 decision to clinch the hard-fought match.

With the win, Tulane improved to 12-4 on the year while claiming its sixth consecutive victory over the Privateers dating back to 2001 and ran its winning streak against Louisiana opponents to 14. Tulane got a bit of bad news in the process as junior setter Katie Case injured her knee toward the end of game one and did not play the rest of the night. UNO, meanwhile, fell to 14-6.

"This was an emotionally draining match, but our team showed its true character and kept fighting all night," head coach Betsy Becker said. "Thankfully, we prevailed, but you've got to give UNO a lot of credit. They dug a lot of balls tonight and never let us pull away."

Junior Kelli Dickson, the team's starting libero who took over for Case at the setter position following the injury, finished the night with 40 assists and 16 digs. Defense set the pace as neither team posted an attack percentage over .120. Tulane out-hit UNO .113 to .107, posting 100 digs and 13 total blocks. UNO countered with 88 digs and 14 blocks, but the Green Wave found a way to put the ball away a little more often with 69 kills in 222 swings to the Privateers' 63 in 214 tries.

Dickson was one of five Tulane players to post double-digit dig totals as sophomore right-side hitter Blair Moon posted 20 digs, followed by senior outside hitter Lindsey Norman with 19, freshman libero Lindsey Karlin with 14 and senior outside hitter Anastasia Kenon with 12. Senior middle blocker Iman Houston led all players with eight blocks, including two solo stuffs, while fellow senior middle Deva Fowler and Moon chipped in with four each.

Norman led all players with 20 kills, and the Green Wave got 17 kills from Kenon and 12 from Fowler. Moon and Houston, meanwhile, tallied seven apiece.

UNO's Jennifer Cruz overcame a slow start to share the team lead in kills with Jessica Helgeson with 17 each, and Hillary Carr tallied 12. Privateer outside hitter Christine Zimmer posted a match-best 24 digs, and UNO was aided defensively by 20 digs by Jayne Duncan and 11 by Cruz. Helgeson posted a match-best nine blocks on the evening, including two solos, while Cruz added five and Carr had four.

Case - who started the match and finished the day with 15 assists, one dig and one block - will be reevaluated by the Tulane doctors in the morning, and her status for the rest of the season will be revealed following tests on the injured knee. The injury marked the third time in four years that a Tulane player sustained a serious injury against the Privateers as then-senior Erin Dobyanski hurt an ankle in a contest at Lakefront Arena in 2001 and Case sustained a season-ending injury in the sixth match of the 2002 season against the Privateers at Fogelman Arena in 2002.

"This team really fought hard following Katie's injury, and Kelli Dickson stepped up and did a good job," Becker said. "Kelli set for us the previous two years, so we knew she was more than capable, but it took some time for us to regroup and for her to get a feel for setting again. I'm proud of the way this team played tonight, and we won this match for Katie Case."

Tulane returns to action on Friday, Oct. 22, when the Green Wave travels to Greenville, N.C., for a C-USA showdown with East Carolina. Tulane will take on Charlotte on Saturday, Oct. 23, before returning home on Friday, Oct. 29, when it battles league foe Louisville at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena.