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Sept. 7, 2004

Stats

LAFAYETTE, La. - Freshman outside hitter Sarah Weiland posted the first double-double of the 2004 season and senior middle blocker Deva Fowler posted 16 kills and seven blocks as the Tulane University volleyball team won a hard-fought battle with in-state foe Louisiana-Lafayette, 3-0, Tuesday night at Earl K. Long Gym.

After taking game one 30-24, Tulane clung to an 18-17 lead midway through game two. From there, the Green Wave went on a 12-2 run to end the stanza. The Ragin' Cajuns refused to go away, however, as UL-Lafayette jumped out to a 17-11 advantage. But once again, Tulane had an answer as the Green Wave went on a 19-9 rally to end the game and clinch the match with a 30-27 victory.

"UL-Lafayette is a much-improved team from the ones we've played the past couple of years," head coach Betsy Becker said. "They played extremely hard and did a good job of keeping the pressure on us all night. I think we need to play a little bit better than we did today, but I'm proud of the way this team handled the adversity and in the way this team was able to come back from some mid-game deficits."

With the win, Tulane remains undefeated on the year at 5-0 and runs the Green Wave's winning streak against in-state opponents to 11 matches dating back to the 2002 season. Louisiana-Lafayette, meanwhile, falls to 2-5.

Weiland tallied 13 kills and 12 digs in the victory, and chipped in defensively at the net with five blocks. Fowler was her usual self, and the Green Wave also got six blocks from senior Iman Houston and three from junior setter Katie Case. Junior libero Kelli Dickson tied a career-high with 21 digs, and senior outside hitter Lindsey Norman tallied nine.

The Green Wave defense, which entered Tuesday night's match holding opponents to a .048 attack percentage, held the Ragin' Cajuns to a .000 mark with 34 kills and 34 errors in 132 swings. One of the big reasons for that was solid back-line defense that posted 60 digs as well as excellent front row blocking that tallied a season-best 14.0 rejections.

UL-Lafayette's Elina Salomaki paced the Ragin' Cajuns with nine kills, followed by Hope Webre with eight and Stacy Liverette with five. Courtney Zimmer and Erika Casto led Louisiana-Lafayette in digs with 14 and 12, respectively, and Kim Rodgers posted a match-best eight blocks, including three solo stuffs.

The Green Wave returns to action on Friday, Sept. 10 when they head west to Tempe, Ariz., for the Arizona State/Tempe Buttes Invitational. Tulane will take on the University of the Pacific on Friday at 5:30 p.m., Fordham on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., and host Arizona State on Sunday at 1 p.m.