Oct. 17, 2006

Complete Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Gametracker: Tulane at Tulsa | Tulane at SMU

New Orleans - First place in Conference USA is on the line as the Tulane volleyball team visits the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Friday at 7 p.m. The second-place Wave (6-2) are tied in the loss column with Tulsa (7-2) and sit a half-game back, while currently holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. Tulane defeated Tulsa 3-1 at Fogelman Arena on October 8, snapping the Golden Hurricane's 10-match win streak. The winner of Friday's match will sit alone atop the conference standings. On Sunday, Tulane's C-USA road trip continues with a 1 p.m. match at SMU.

Natural Born Killer
With 5.26 kills per game entering the weekend, sophomore Sara Radosevic ranked ninth in Division I kills. The outside hitter from Zagreb, Croatia now has 279 kills in 53 games. Radosevic is second in C-USA, as conference mate Kelly-Anne Billingy of Marshall leads the nation. She is also seventh in the NCAA and first in C-USA with 0.68 service aces per game.

In The Middle of the Offense
Tulane's middle blockers have been efficent offensive players, hitting a combined .389 on the season (206 of 400). Sophomore Jen Linder (133 kills) is hitting .407, which ranks 18th in Division I in hitting percentage and second in Conference USA. Sophomore Lauren Boatwright (73 kills) is connecting at a .357 clip.

Conference Notes
Entering the weekend, the Green Wave rank first in C-USA in assists (14.90), third in kills (15.82) and fifth in service aces (1.66). Jen Linder is second in C-USA in hitting percentage (.407) with 133 kills on 246 attempts. Sara Radosevic is second in C-USA with 5.26 kills per game, while freshman outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic ranks ninth with 3.93 KPG. Radosevic also leads C-USA in aces per game (0.68). Luna Rebrovic is 10th in assists at 828 per game, freshman libero Jenn Miller is second in digs with 5.21 per game. Middle blocker Lauren Boatwright has 71 blocks in 61 games to place fifth in C-USA at 1.16 BPG.

All-Time Leaderboards
Sophomore setter Luna Rebrovic now has 1,357 career assists, eighth all-time at Tulane in under two seasons. She currently sits 117 assists behind Shelly Wolfe (1996-97) for seventh place. Freshman libero Jenn Miller now has 318 digs on the season. With 56 more digs, Miller can enter the top 10 single-season dig list at Tulane and set a Green Wave freshman record.

Radosevic Earns Second C-USA offensive Player of the Week Honor
Tulane outside hitter Sara Radosevic was named the Offensive Player of the Week by Conference USA on Oct. 9, after hitting .422 with 46 kills in the Green Wave's wins over SMU and Tulsa. The sophomore from Zagreb, Croatia posted back-to-back 23-kill efforts and hit .688 (23 kills, one error, 32 attempts) against SMU. She posted a double-double against C-USA leader Tulsa on with 23 kills and 14 digs. She also recorded five aces against Tulsa and seven for the week, while totaling 54.5 points. The honor was the second for Radosevic this season, who was named Offensive Player of the Week August 28.

Hot Conference Start
The last time Tulane was off to a hotter Conference USA start was 2003, when the Green Wave opened 6-0. That Tulane team featured four seniors who were four-year starters. The 2006 Tulane team has just one senior, Sara Thorson, no juniors, and 10 under-classmen. The 2003 Tulane team finished 9-4 in C-USA action, the best conference win percentage of any Green Wave volleyball squad.

Hit Parade
On Oct. 6 against SMU, Tulane posted its highest hitting percentage since October 23, 2003, when the Wave hit .438 against Southern. The Green Wave hit .408 with 55 kills on 103 swings,. Tulane hit .429 in game one and game two, while connecting for a .364 percentage in game three. Sophomore outside hitter Sara Radosevic set her career-high in hitting percentage with just one error for a .688 clip. Sophomore middle blocker Jen Linder hit .714 with 10 kills on 14 attempts (against no errors). Freshman outside hitter Ksenija Vlaskovic added 10 kills on a .333 percentage, while freshman libero Jenn Miller pitched in 15 digs. Sophomore setter Luna Rebrovic paced the Green Wave with 29 assists while freshman Rachel Lindelow added 21.

Sunday Night Spike
Tulane volleyball won its first-ever national television appearance, a 3-2 win over Marshall Thundering Herd on Sept. 24. Sara Radosevic led a quartet of Wave players who finished in double-figures in kills. While winning the early match up of Conference USA unbeatens, the Green Wave also snapped the 14-match C-USA win streak of the defending league champions and handed Marshall just its fifth loss in its last 40 home matches.

Young, But Experienced
With three freshman, seven sophmores and only one senior (Sara Thorson), Tulane is one of the younger teams in college volleyball. Tulane is one of six teams with one upperclassman or less, along with Alabama St. (one junior), Birmingham-Southern (one senior), Indiana St. (no juniors or seniors), Savannah St. (one junior), and Southern (one senior).

Non-Conference Slate
Tulane faced its toughest non-conference competition at the Diet Coke Classic in Minnesota Sept 15-16. UConn entered the week of the tourney undefeated, while Dayton, an NCAA tournament team the past three years, had been receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 all year. Host Minnesota opened the season ranked No. 22, but fell into the receiving votes category.

On Tap
The Tulane volleyball team returns to Fogelman Arena on Friday, Oct. 27 for a Conference USA match up with UAB. The Blazers enter this weekend at 2-6 in C-USA, 14-9 overall. The meeting takes place at 7 p.m. On Sunday, Oct. 29, the Green Wave plays host to Memphis at 1 p.m. The Tigers are 5-3 in C-USA entering this weekend, and 19-4 overall. Live stats will be available via Gametracker for both matches at TulaneGreenWave.com. Individual tickets for the 2006 volleyball season are $6 for adults and $4 for youth, and can be purchased at Fogelman Arena on game day.