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Sept. 10, 2004

Stats

TEMPE, Ariz. - Senior middle blocker Deva Fowler had a match-high and season-best 18 kills and Arizona native Lindsey Norman posted 13 digs, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a heart-breaking 3-0 decision to the University of Pacific at the Wyndham Buttes Invitational, hosted by Arizona State in Wells Fargo Arena.

Both teams had to fight, scratch and claw for each and every point, and that was reflected in the scores of all three games as none was decided by more than five points. In the end, however, it was Pacific that held the advantage each time as the Tigers took the match in 30-28, 30-25, 30-25. The loss was the first of the season for the Green Wave, which fall to 5-1. Pacific, which has advanced to play in the NCAA Tournament for 23 consecutive seasons, improves to 1-2.

"This is a bittersweet match for us," head coach Betsy Becker said. "We were right there with them, playing toe-for-toe, and if we could have minimized our errors and made them into positive plays, we're looking at a different outcome. But had some bright spots that came out of tonight that we want to transfer for the rest of the weekend. Whenever you lose, you never want to lose the lesson. We learned some things in this match that will make us a better team down the stretch.

"Deva Fowler and Lindsey Norman were so solid today for us. If we could just get a third person to step up and score some points for us, who knows what would have happened. That is a goal that we will look to achieve tomorrow, and I have confidence that this team can do just that."

Fowler was the only Tulane player to post double-digit kill totals as Norman and senior right-side hitter Iman Houston were second on the squad with six kills each. Junior libero Kelli Dickson paced the Green Wave with 14 digs while Norman - who grew up in nearby Glendale - was close behind with 13.

It was a struggle early on as neither team could gain control of game one. The largest lead of the period was three points as the Green Wave held a 4-1 advantage early on. The two teams traded points for much of the stanza, and it appeared that Tulane had the upper hand at 28-26. From there, however, Pacific rattled off four unanswered points to take game on 30-28.

The beginning of game two followed a similar script, but with the score tied at 4-all, the Tigers used a 6-1 run to take a comfortable 10-5 lead. The advantage swelled to as many as 10 at 21-11, but Tulane refuse to go away - cutting the lead to just two at 26-24. The early lead proved to be too much to overcome, however, as Pacific held on for a 30-25 decision.

After falling behind 1-0 in game three, Tulane took a 2-1 advantage it would hold for much of the match. The third stanza featured 11 ties and the largest lead of the contest was five, but with the score knotted at 22-all, the Tigers took advantage of a quartet of Green Wave errors to complete the victory with a 30-25 game-three win.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to Pacific," Becker said. "They made a lot of errors in game one, made some adjustments during the break to eliminate some mistakes, and turned that into points."

Sidney Bennett and Stevie Mussie led Pacific with 13 and 11 kills, respectively. Mussie completed a double-double with 12 digs, and Ashley Grothuis led the Tigers with a match-high 15 ups.

The Green Wave return to action in day two of the Wyndham Buttes Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 11, when they take on Fordham at 5:30 p.m. Tulane will close out the weekend on Sunday against host Arizona State at 1 p.m.