Nov. 12, 2002

Final Stats

HOUSTON, Texas - It was not always pretty, but for the Green Wave, it sure was sweet as the Tulane University volleyball team defeated Conference USA foe and regionally-ranked Houston in five games Tuesday night for their first ever win over the Cougars in Hofheinz Pavilion.

The Green Wave won the first two games 30-26 and 30-28, squandered match-point opportunities in games three and four before taking deciding game five 15-7. With the win, the Green Wave improves to 20-13 overall for the team's first 20-win season since 1994, and 8-4 in C-USA action.

"Overall, I think we made a statement in game five," head coach Betsy Becker said. "Our defense stepped it up and we remained composed as a team to pull out the victory. We were a little off all night with the things we're usually good at like passing and defense, but it all came together in game five, and we're excited to leave here with a win.

"Houston played really hard, served well and really didn't make a lot of mistakes. To combat that, we had to stick with the character of this team which is to be aggressive. This is a real feather in our cap. We got our 20th win, we beat the No. 7 ranked team in the region, and that's a true testament to the fortitude of this team."

Senior outside hitter Britney Hurst led a balanced Green Wave attack with 28 kills, followed by sophomore middle blocker Deva Fowler with 19, sophomore outside hitter Anastasia Kenon with 17 and junior middle blocker with 12. Hurst also paced the Green Wave defense with 25 digs while junior right-side hitter Lauren Jones-McClain tallied 23, Kenon 15 and junior libero Karlyn Daly had 14.

The Green Wave led the Cougars in every statistical category, including blocks where Tulane had 12.0 to Houston's 9.0 Swafford posted a match-best nine blocks, including one solo stuff, Jones-McClain had four, and Hurst and Kenon each tallied three.

Houston ran out to an early lead in game one as the Cougars roared out to a 6-3 advantage. The lead would not hold up, though, as the Green Wave came back to tie the score at 10 and took the lead for good at 12-11. From there, the Green Wave would go on a 7-3 run to push the lead to 19-14. Tulane led by as many as nine at 28-19 before Houston cut the lead to three at 29-26, but the early lead proved to the difference as the Green Wave won 30-26.

Tulane rolled out the lead in game two, claiming a 10-5 advantage in the early going. Houston cut the lead to one at 17-16, but the Green Wave had an answer and pushed the lead back to five at 25-20. The Cougars went on an 8-3 run to tie the game at 28 all, but after a Tulane timeout, the Green Wave got a kill from Kenon and took advantage of a Houston mistake to take the stanza, 30-28.

Errors plagued the Green Wave early in game three as three ball-handling errors and three attack errors helped the Cougars stake claim to a 15-8 advantage. Tulane, however, would not go away and cut the lead to one at 23-22 and tied the contest at 27-all. After falling behind 28-27, Tulane held match point two points later, but the error bug bit again as the Green Wave committed a pair of attack errors and Houston got a kill to take the game, 31-29.

The momentum of the game three win carried over to game four as the Cougars ran out to a 15-10 lead. But the Green Wave appeared to take control of the game with a 10-0 run to make it 25-15, and held a 28-22 lead. The advantage, however, would not hold up as the Cougars used a 6-0 run to tie the game. Tulane would once again hold match point at 29-28, but a mistake and a pair of Houston kills and cost the Green Wave again as the Cougars won 31-29.

In game five, however, the Green Wave were able to put it all together as Tulane jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Houston would tie the game at four and again at five, but a 6-0 run behind solid serving by Fowler to take control of the match with a 12-5 advantage. This time, the Green Wave lead would hold up as Houston put a pair of serves into the net at crunch time and Tulane prevailed 15-7.

Houston's Jenny Tanneberger led all players with a match-high 31 kills, and Jaci Gonzalez of the Cougars posted a contest-leading 26 digs.

The Green Wave closes out the regular-season on Friday when they host league foe Memphis at 7 p.m. at Fogelman Arena. Prior to the match, the Green Wave will honor Hurst on Senior Night as well as the parents of the team as Tulane celebrates Parents' Night as well.