• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sept. 12, 2004

Stats

TEMPE, Ariz. - Local product Lindsey Norman posted a career-high 18 kills and senior middle blocker Deva Fowler earned all-tournament honors, but it was not enough as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to host Arizona State in the finale of the Wyndham Buttes Invitational Sunday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Green Wave won the first stanza, 30-21, and held leads late in games two and three, but it would be the Sun Devils who would emerge on top in the final four frames to take the match with 31-29, 30-28, and 30-24 decisions. The loss dropped Tulane to 6-2 on the year while Arizona State improved to 4-2.

"We need to learn how to close out games," head coach Betsy Becker said. "It cost us on Friday against Pacific, and it cost us again today. But the bottom line is that we will get better from this weekend's matches. We played three quality opponents and played extremely well."

Norman, a native of nearby Glendale, had a solid weekend in front of several family members and friends, averaged 3.45 kills and 3.27 digs per game over the weekend. It was Fowler, however, who was named to the all-tournament team as she averaged 4.91 kills, 1.27 blocks and 1.00 digs per outing in the Wyndham Buttes Invitational.

Fowler led all players with 19 kills and six blocks. Norman was next offensively with 18 kills, and freshman outside hitter Sarah Weiland tied a career-high with 15 kills. Weiland paced the Green Wave defense with 14 digs for the second double-double of her career, and was joined in the double-digit dig club by junior libero Kelli Dickson and junior setter Katie Case, who posted 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

Tulane got off to a good start, jumping out to 19-13lead which prompted the Sun Devils to call a timeout. Arizona State cut the lead to three at 20-17, but following a timeout by the Green Wave, Tulane pushed the advantage to six at 24-18 and never looked back en route to a 30-21 victory.

It was Arizona State which claimed the early lead in game two as the Sun Devils took a 7-2 advantage. Tulane would claw its way back in the game to tie things up at 11-all, and would eventually hold a 29-25 lead late in the stanza. The advantage would not hold up, however, as Arizona State rattled off six unanswered points to take the game 31-29.

Game three followed a similar script as the Sun Devils took the early lead, Tulane came back and held a significant advantage late in the contest. But with the Green Wave leading 28-26, Arizona State took advantage of a pair of Tulane errors to go on a 4-0 run to win the game, 30-28.

Tulane got off to a solid start in game four, jumping out to an 8-4 lead. Arizona State would come back to tie the score at 12, and one point later, the Sun Devils took a 13-12 lead they would never relinquish. The lead would grow to as many as eight at 28-21 and the advantage would hold up as ASU cruised to a 30-24 victory.

Four Sun Devils posted 10-plus kills in the match, including Nicole Morton and Sarah Watkins, who posted a team-leading 14 each. Sydney Donahue led all players with a match-high 23 digs.

The Green Wave returns to action on Friday, Sept. 17, when they host the 2004 NOKIA Sugar Bowl Classic in Fogelman Arena. Tulane will take on Miami (Fla.) on Friday at 7 p.m. before battling Wisconsin-Milwaukee and SMU at 1 and 7 p.m., respectively.