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Sept. 11, 2004

Stats

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Arizona native Lindsey Norman posted a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs to lead the Tulane University volleyball team to a 3-1 come-from-behind win over Fordham Saturday afternoon at the Wyndham Buttes Invitational, hosted by Arizona State in Wells Fargo Arena.

The Green Wave got off to a rocky start, falling in game one 31-29, but bounced back to take the match in four with wins of 30-20, 30-17 and 30-27 in the three remaining games, respectively. With the win, Tulane improves to 6-1 on the year while Fordham falls to 3-3.

"Lindsey has played very well in her home town," head coach Betsy Becker said. "She's reveling in the roll of playing here and is having a good time. Our hope as coaches is that her production is contagious and that everyone comes out focused for tomorrow's match."

Norman, a native of nearby Glendale, put on a show for her audience of family and friends, leading the team in digs and tying freshman outside hitter Sarah Weiland for the second-most kills on the squad. Senior middle blocker Deva Fowler led all players with 17 kills and seven blocks, including three solo stuffs, and also added four digs.

The difference in the match, however, was the overall defensive effort by Tulane. In game one, Tulane tallied just three digs and allowed Fordham to hit a robust .517 with 20 kills and just five errors in 29 swings. In the final three games, however, the Green Wave posted 57 digs and held the Rams to a .024 attack percentage (31-28-125).

"In the first game, both teams had high hitting percentages, and that means that neither team was playing very good defense," Becker said. "That's what we talked about in between the games, and I'm proud of the way the team responded. We did a much better job of digging the ball, and that really created a lot of opportunities for our offense."

The Green Wave fell behind early in game one, 15-11, and the four-point lead would stand up through most of the game. Fordham held a 25-21 later in the stanza, and the Rams held game point at 29-26, but Tulane would stave off a trio of game-ending opportunities to tie the score at 29. From there, however, Fordham tallied back-to-back kills to win 31-29.

Tulane fell behind early in game two as Fordham staked claim to a 4-1 lead. But after battling back to tie the contest at 12-all, the Green Wave would go on a 18-8 run to close out the stanza and take the frame 30-20.

Fordham scored the first point of game three, but it was all Tulane the rest of the way. The Green Wave used a 7-1 run early to take a 7-2 advantage, pushed the lead to as many as 14 at 26-12 and withstood a strong Rams' rally to take the third stanza, 30-17.

The Green Wave rolled out to a 15-4 lead in game four, at which point they made wholesale substitutions. Fordham, however, went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to three, but it appeared Tulane would take control of the game at 26-18. The Rams, however, refused to go away and cut the lead to two at 28-26, forcing the Green Wave to call a timeout. The stoppage of play was just what Tulane needed as the team in olive and blue held on to win, 30-27.

Tulane closes out play in the Wyndham Buttes Invitational on Sunday, Sept. 12, when the Green Wave takes on host Arizona State at 10 a.m. Fans can catch all the action live on the internet via Gametracker. The Gametracker link is located on the official website of Tulane Athletics, www.tulanegreenwave.com, and provides live scoring, updated stats and play-by-play, as well as a national scoreboard for other NCAA volleyball action.