The Green Wave has won four matches in a row heading into the upcoming conference-opener.
The Tulane Green Wave is off to a scorching hot start on the volleyball courts.
After wrapping up non-conference and invitational play, the Green Wave sits at 8-2 on the year and is riding the momentum of a four-game winning streak. Those wins haven't necessarily been close, either.
Tulane started the year with its annual Green Wave Classic, and though it dropped the opening match to the North Dakota State Bison, it bounced back nicely with a 3-0 win over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
The program would go on to dominate the UNF Invitational, with sweeps of the Duke Blue Devils and North Florida Ospreys as well as a 3-2 win over the Florida International Panthers.
The second loss of the season for Tulane came in the South Alabama Invitational, as it took a lopsided defeat to the Georgia Bulldogs out of the Southeastern Conference to open up the event. Wins over the South Alabama Jaguars and Kennesaw State Owls quickly erased the sting of that opening loss.
Since then, the Green Wave has been on a tear, racking up a pair of strong home-court sweeps of the Cal State Fullerton Titans and the LSU New Orleans Privateers. In its eight winning matches so far this year, the program has won 24 of 27 individual sets played.
The talent that the program has managed to recruit and run out onto the court is quite impressive. Sophomore Lauryn Mack has led the offensive attack with 103 kills for an average of 3.22 kills per set. She and Avery Burks are tied with 243 attacks on the year, while Charlee Solomon has totaled 354 assists and boasts an attack percentage of .477. Defensively, Solomon, Dayla Ortiz and Makena Lim each have more than 100 digs to their name. Riley Tucker leads the way with 32 blocks for an average of 0.91 blocks per set. The team has routinely demonstrated efficiency and toughness, and in many cases, even the sets that the program has lost have been competitive.
Tulane will be facing a tough test to open up American Conference play as it hits the road to take on the UTSA Roadrunners in San Antonio, Texas. UTSA currently has a league-best 9-2 overall record and is a perfect 5-0 on its home court. If the Green Wave continues to play as well as it has over the past few weeks, then a bit of an upset could be brewing.
The two conference foes will face off at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, September 25th.
