Pirates Travel West To Battle Tulane And Rice

Matches 15-16: East Carolina at Tulane and Rice
Coverage	Oct. 11 \| at Tulane \| 7:30 p.m. \| Live Stats \| Watch Oct. 13 \| at Rice \| 3:00 p.m. \| Live Stats \| Watch
Venues	Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse (4,100) (New Orleans, La.) Tudor Fieldhouse (5,208) (Houston, Texas)
Match Notes	East Carolina \| Tulane \| Rice
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #ECUVB #NoQuarter

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Looking to further cement its place in the top portion of the American Athletic Conference standings, East Carolina embarks on a challenging weekend road trip that sends it to New Orleans Friday (7:30 p.m.) and Houston Sunday (3:00 p.m.) for a pair of key encounters with Tulane and Rice.

Both matches will stream live through ESPN+ with Andrew Beyer, Danielle Scott and Skylar Ensign handling Friday's broadcast. Chris Mycoskie and Natalie Keck are on the call Sunday.

ECU (10-4, 3-1 AAC) is in a current four-way tie for third place in the league standings with North Texas, Tulsa and Wichita State after sweeping UTSA and downing North Texas in five sets last weekend in Greenville. Rice and South Florida sit atop the table with identical 4-0 conference marks.

The Pirates have done an admirable job of spreading the offensive wealth this campaign as Fran McBride (2.80), Angeles Alderete (2.65) and Ellie Pate (2.64) are all averaging well over 2.50 kills per set. In fact, in Sunday's triumph over the Mean Green, Alderete (22) and Pate (20) became the first East Carolina duo to deliver at least 20 kills in a match apiece since Kelley Wernert (26) and Mignon Dubenion (21) did so in a five-set victory at Southern Miss back on Oct. 13, 2006. The trio has combined for 391 of the Pirates' 601 total kills with McBride sporting a robust .352 hitting percentage – good for the fourth best in the league.

Alderete has proven to be one of most successful six-rotation outside hitters on the circuit as she is putting up 3.20 digs per set and is seventh among the conference leaders in service aces per set (0.37). Lara Uyar also slots fifth in the league in digs per set (3.75).

Collectively, ECU ranks second in the American Conference in both hitting percentage (.232) and opponent hitting percentage (.182). The Pirates are also sixth in both digs per set (14.63) and assists per set (11.69).

A Look At Tulane
Tulane (10-7, 2-3 AAC) enters Friday's contest with a head of steam after sweeping UTSA in San Antonio Wednesday. The Green Wave runs a fairly efficient offense, slotting fourth in the American Conference in hitting percentage (.226). Tulane also ranks fourth in blocks per set (2.23). Sabrina Skyers heads up the defensive efforts along the net as she is putting up 1.06 blocks per set (third in the AAC) while Sami Jacobs is sixth in the league in digs per set (3.56). The Green Wave began conference play with a five-set home loss to Rice before suffering a sweep at North Texas. Tulane also owns a 3-0 victory over UAB and a three-set loss to Tulsa.

The Tulane Series
Tulane leads the all-time series with East Carolina by a 23-8 margin, though the Pirates have won two of the last three meetings. ECU took the lone encounter last season, downing the Green Wave 3-0 in Greenville. The Pirates are just 2-12 in New Orleans and look for their first win inside Devlin Fieldhouse since capturing a 3-2 victory in 2019.

About Rice
Rice (9-4, 4-0 AAC), the AAC preseason favorite, is off to an unbeaten start in league action with wins over Tulane, UTSA, Tulsa and Wichita State. The Owls survived a pair of five-set battles with the Green Wave and Shockers and will host North Texas Friday before facing off with East Carolina Sunday. Rice sits among the conference statistical leaders in several categories, including points per set (second/16.69), kills per set (second/13.37), digs per set (second/17.06) and assists per set (third/12.35). Individually, Cindy Tchouangwa ranks third in kills per set (3.33) and fourth in points per set (3.69) while Lademi Ogunlana is third in hitting percentage (.381) and Savannah Skopal checks in fourth in assists per set (9.00).

The Rice Series
ECU trails the all-time series with Rice 10-3 and looks for its first win over the Owls since taking a 3-2 victory back on Oct. 28, 2007, in Houston. The Pirates nearly knocked off Rice in five sets at Tudor Fieldhouse last season but could not finish the job despite leading 14-12 in the deciding frame.

1K/1K Club
Halfway through her third collegiate season, Alderete is within striking distance of joining the prestigious 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig club at East Carolina. She requires just 158 digs to reach the milestone after collecting her 1,000th kill in Sunday's win over North Texas. The most recent member of the program to register the achievement is Bri Wood who collected 1,303 kills and 1,144 digs during her five seasons (2017-21) wearing the Purple and Gold. Aptly, Wood currently serves as ECU's Director of Student-Athlete Development and Life Skills.

History Beckons
A trio of Pirates are close to or already have broken into the top 10 in program history in a handful of career statistics. Alderete is also only six kills away from tying Ashton Mares (2014-17) for 10th place. Senior setter Payton Evenstad moved into 10th in assists last weekend (1,840) while junior middle blocker Carlia Northcross is 60 blocks from joining the list.

Up Next
East Carolina returns to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Friday, Oct. 18, for an American Athletic Conference encounter with Temple. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Angeles Alderete

Payton Evenstad

Fran McBride

Carlia Northcross

Ellie Pate

Lara Uyar

Footer