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Nov. 5, 2004

Final Stats

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Three Golden Eagles posted double-digit kill totals and four had 10-plus digs as the Tulane University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision (30-27, 30-21, 30-24) to Conference USA foe Marquette Friday evening at the Al McGuire Center.

Senior outside hitter Anastasia Kenon posted a team-best nine kills, and senior middle blocker Deva Fowler added eight kills and four blocks, but it was not enough to overcome a balanced Marquette that led in every statistical category. With the loss, Tulane is still one win shy of locking a berth in the 2004 C-USA Tournament, as the Green Wave fall to 13-8 on the year and 4-6 in league play. The Golden Eagles, meanwhile, improve to 16-6 overall and 7-3 in C-USA action.

"The stat sheet says it all," head coach Betsy Becker said. "There's a difference between losing and getting beat, and tonight, we got beat. They played on fire. Marquette is a very good team, and we found out tonight why they rank among the top teams in the conference. They were very balanced, and played extremely well on defense."

Theresa Coughlin led Marquette with 16 kills, and the Golden Eagles also got double-digit kill performances from Kimberly Todd and Jamie Mueller with 12 and 11, respectively. The difference in the game, however, came via the defense as Marquette had 73 digs to Tulane's 45, and out-blocked the Green Wave 10-6. The Golden Eagle defense held Tulane to a season-low .099 attack percentage with 36 kills and 22 errors in 142 swings.

"We matched Marquette point-for-point for most of the night, but there were some key momentum shifts due to their quality digs, and that cost us the match," Becker said. "We've got to leave this one behind us and look forward to tomorrow. We're a good team, and I don't think we're unrealistic in saying that, but we just need to go out and prove it. We just have to stay positive and good things will happen."

Erin Freer paced Marquette with a match-high 20 digs while Mueller had 16, Monica Renfrow tallied 12 and Sarah Vernon added 11. At the net, Jenn Brown led all players with six blocks while Todd added four and Coughlin chipped in with three.

Tulane fell behind early in game one, 13-7, but battled back to cut the lead to one at 20-19 and again at 21-20. The Green Wave would practically match points with the Golden Eagles the rest of the way, but the early lead proved to be the difference in a 30-27 Marquette win.

Tulane would be the one to run out to the early lead in game two, staking claim to an 8-4 advantage over the first 12 serves, but Marquette would battle back and eventually tie the score at 16-all. From there, it was all Golden Eagles as the home team went on a 14-5 run to end the game and take a commanding two-games-to-none lead into the locker room at the break.

Game three got out of hand in a hurry as the Golden Eagles soared out to a 13-3 lead and never looked back. After the first 16 points, Tulane actually outscored Marquette 21-17, but the early deficit proved too big of a mountain to climb and the girls in olive and green were put away in three.

Junior libero Kelli Dickson led the Green Wave defense with 12 digs, and the Green Wave got a career-best nine digs from freshman setter Brittany Esser.

Tulane returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 6, when they travel to Chicago, Ill., to battle C-USA foe DePaul at 7 p.m. in the DePaul Athletic Center. From there, the Green Wave returns to The Big Easy were it will close out their home schedule with three straight matches in Fogelman Arena.

The homestand begins on Tuesday, Nov. 9, when the Green Wave plays host to Jackson State at 7 p.m. before battling C-USA foes UAB and USF on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both of those contests are slated to begin at 7 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 861-WAVE.