Nov. 8, 2003

Final Stats

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Senior libero Karlyn Daly set a school four-game record with a career-best 31 digs, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Conference USA foe Southern Miss Saturday night at the Payne Center.

The two teams split the first to contests with Tulane winning game one 31-29 and Southern Miss taking game two 30-28. The Golden Eagles soared to a lopsided 30-18 lead in game three, and appeared to be headed for an easy win as they held a 15-8 advantage early in game four.

The Green Wave, however, refused to go away and battled back to eventually tie the score at 26-all. The two teams traded the next four points, and Tulane staved off three match-point serves by the Golden Eagles, but the Green Wave could not stop the home team on their fourth opportunity to win the match as Nicki Tribble took an over pass and hammered it home to give Southern Miss a 33-31 win.

"We have to give credit to Southern Miss because they played an A-plus game," head coach Betsy Becker said. "They were good in all facets. Our biggest problem tonight was that we couldn't come out of the gate in any of the games and couldn't put together a significant run.

"We played well in spurts and we played good catch-up ball, but that's not going to work against a quality team like Southern Miss. It comes down to the little things. Our teams knows that and we're disappointed. Now, the pressure is on to get a top-four seed and get that first-round bye. Our backs are against the wall."

Daly, who tied the Tulane four-game dig mark with 27 back on Oct. 17 against Marquette and saw the mark get eclipsed one night later when junior outside hitter Anastasia Kenon posted 28 against DePaul, led three Green Wave players with double-digit dig totals as the Green Wave posted 88 digs to Southern Miss' 81. Junior outside hitter Lindsey Norman was second on the squad defensively with 17 digs and Kenon posted 16.

Kenon led the Green Wave offense with 18 kills, followed by junior middle blocker Deva Fowler and senior right-side hitter Lauren Jones-McClain with 10. Southern Miss, meanwhile, ranks third in the league in service aces per game with a 2.13 average, and fourth in both attack percentage and opponent attack percentage with marks of .256 and .186.

Southern Miss' Tribble led all players with 25 kills as four Golden Eagles posted 10-plus kills. Five USM players tallied double-digit dig totals, including Tribble who had a team-high 15.

The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Nov. 14 when they travel to Missouri to take on C-USA for Saint Louis at 7 p.m. Following the match with the Billikens, Tulane closes out the regular season one night later at Memphis before returning to the friendly confines of Fogelman Arena for the 2003 Conference USA Tournament beginning on Nov. 21.