East Carolina University
Tulane
Tulane Edges East Carolina, 3-1
October 03, 2014 | Volleyball
NEW ORLEANS, La. - East Carolina volleyball dropped a 3-1 [25-21, 19-25, 22-25, 23-25] decision to Tulane Friday night to fall to 0-3 in American Conference action. The Pirates were out-hit by the Green Wave as they fall to 7-5 overall and Tulane moves to 4-12 (2-2 American) on the year.
The Pirates had four scorers in double figures and two players register double-doubles, but they were unable to overcome 12 service errors and a Tulane squad that hit .322 on the evening.
"We came up short against an improving Tulane team," Head coach Julie Torbett said. "We missed serves and struggled with picking up tips and roll shots, but did well offensively with multiple players in double-figure kills. The match ended on a ball handling error, which is not the way wanted to finish. We worked hard at not digging holes after the first two sets had us coming from behind. The last two, we just let them back in.
"We will continue to make adjustments and fix the things we can control," Torbett continued. "There are certain elements to a match that are out of your control and we experienced that tonight."
The Green Wave was led offensively by Sarah Ray's match-high 19 kills on .375 hitting. Ray was one dig shy of a double-double as she posted nine digs in the contest. Tea Juric added 17 kills of her own and 19 digs while hitting .394. Annie Shurtz posted 13 kills on a .393 attack percentage. Ally Frank paced the Tulane offense with 49 assists to go along with seven digs and a pair of kills. Miah Diirell contributed 17 kills for the hosts.
Junior middle blocker Kierra Lee-Dunson knocked down a team-leading 13 kills while hitting .458 for East Carolina. She also added three block assists in the setback. Sydney Darden, Ashley McRae and Ashton Mares finished the contest with 11 kills each. Darden collected her seventh double-double of the year with 13 digs, while Zarah Cecich collected a double-double of her own with 35 assists and 10 digs. Cecich narrowly missed the triple-double as she recorded nine kills for the Pirates.
Defensively, junior libero Lauren Bewick collected a career-high 18 digs, while junior defensive specialist Erika Figueroa added 11.
East Carolina opened the match hitting .405 and knocked down 18 kills with a 71-percent sideout percentage. Despite the hot hitting from the Pirates, Tulane stayed in the game as the Green Wave collected 12 kills on .206 hitting. With the set tied at 19-19, Darden recorded a kill to give ECU a lead it would not relinquish. The Pirates knocked down three consecutive kills from Bella Borgiotti, Cecich and Lee-Dunson to win the set, 25-21.
Tulane evened the match at one set a piece as the Green Wave boasted 19 kills on a .459 attack percentage in the second set. The Green Wave jumped out in front 3-0 as Tulane took advantage of three consecutive ECU errors and never looked back. Tulane led throughout the set and claimed a 25-19 win following a kill from Ray.
Although the Pirates were out-hit by the Green Wave in the third set, .371 - .162, ECU managed to keep the contest close as the Pirates and Green Wave battled through several early ties. East Carolina took a 12-8 lead after a kill from Mares and a Tulane miscue forcing the Green Wave to call a timeout. After the break in action, Tulane slowly chipped away and evened the score at 16-all. The Green Wave went on to take the lead after a pair of Pirate attack errors did not allow ECU to come back as the hosts edged East Carolina, 25-22.
The Pirates took a quick 3-0 lead in the fourth set and led early on. However, Tulane fought its way back into the game and tied the set at 23-23 after an ECU attack error. With the contest tied, the Pirates committed two more errors as Tulane won the set, 25-23, and the match by a score of 3-1.
East Carolina looks to notch its first American Conference victory Sunday, October 5, at Houston. Match time is set for 2 p.m. ET. Live stats will be available on ECUPirates.com.
