Saturday, March 20

Tulane 3, USF 1 (25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21)	Box Score
Texas Tech 3, SMU 2 (25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-11)	Box Score
Kansas 3, Wichita State 0 (22-25, 22-25, 20-25)	Box Score
Texas State 3,  Houston 1 (25-22, 25-22, 21-25, 25-17)	Box Score

Tulane 3, USF 1

The Tulane volleyball team (8-9, 5-3 AAC) wrapped up its weekend with a four-set win (25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-21) over USF (6-6, 3-3 AAC) on Saturday in The Corral.

"Our serving was key in getting USF in trouble," head coach Jim Barnes said. "We played much better defense and Anna [Davis] had a terrific match hitting and blocking. Now we prepare to finish the regular season at Tulsa. A place in the conference tournament is completely within our control."

As a team, Tulane outscored USF in kills (52), blocks (nine), assists (44) and digs (60).

Freshman middle hitter Anna Davis led the way for the Green Wave in the win, recording a career-high 15 kills while hitting .833. Davis' hitting clip is the second best in program history, topping Lindsey Shepard's .824 percentage from 2010.

Davis also recorded a career-high seven blocks in the match, one solo and six assists. Junior right side hitter Yvette Burcescu had five blocks in the match, also adding seven kills.

Notching double-digit kills in the victory was freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Martin and senior outside hitter Lexie Douglas with 10 each. Martin also led the Olive and Blue in service aces with three and in digs with 13, earning a double-double.

Junior setter Taylor Henigsman totaled 40 assists and 10 digs in four sets on Saturday, while freshman libero Sophia Ervanian added 12.

Tulane came out rolling in the first set, as a 12-1 run put the Green Wave ahead 18-10 to start. Three service aces from Martin, along with three kills from Davis and blocks from Davis, Burcescu and Henigsman, helped Tulane take an eight-point lead. USF went on a 3-0 run to close the gap toward the end of the set but the Olive and Blue held on before taking the first, 25-17.

The second set marked a back-and-forth game to start before a 3-0 run, with a kill from Martin, a solo block from Davis and another block from Davis and Henigsman, put Tulane up 12-10. The Green Wave stayed strong at the net in set two, as back-to-back blocks from Davis and Burcescu helped the Olive and Blue to solidify the win at 25-19 and take a 2-0 match lead.

USF jumped out to an early lead in the third with a 9-3 score, staying ahead until an 8-2 Green Wave run tied it up at 13-13. A kill from Dinkins following a Bulls timeout put the Olive and Blue ahead by three at 23-20 but a 5-0 run from South Florida ended the set as the home team took it, 25-23.

Both teams were tied at the start, before a 4-0 USF run put the home team ahead at 13-10 and forced a Tulane timeout. Back-to-back kills from Martin and junior middle hitter Kayla Dinkins helped the Green wave cap off a 5-0 run, putting them ahead by two at 18-16. The Bulls closed the gap to one with a 21-20 score but a 4-1 Olive and Blue run, with two kills from Davis, finished it out at 25-21 as Tulane took the match, 3-1.

Texas Tech 3, SMU 2

SMU fell to Texas Tech in five sets (25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-11) on Saturday. Jadyn Bauss completed her 11th double-double this season after gathering 19 kills and 12 digs today. Alex Glover notched a career-best two aces. Makayla Miller matched her career-best with two kills on the day at the defensive specialist position. Hannah Jacobs and Rachel Woulfe followed behind Bauss with 18 and 17 kills, respectively. Bria' Merchant led the Mustangs with 20 digs, while Lily Heim dished out 54 assists.

Texas Tech (9-13, 5-11 BIG 12) took the first set, but SMU rallied back to take the next two sets in the match to find a 2-1 advantage. The Mustangs (8-6, 4-4- AAC) used a .500 hitting percentage and eight kills from Bauss to hold off the Red Raiders in the second set.

The third set saw seven ties and two lead changes. TTU took a 7-3 lead early, but SMU did not let down. The Mustangs eventually tied the match up at 14 and took a two-point advantage after an ace by Lily Heim. SMU held off the Red Raiders attack to take the set by two points.

Texas Tech gained the momentum at the right time and had a solid outing from Samantha Sanders, who combined for 10 kills in the final two sets. TTU hit .345 and 350 in sets four and five, respectively.

SENIOR DAY RECOGNITION
Meryn Kennedy was honored following Saturday's match. Meryn led the team in blocks each of her first three full seasons, ranking in the top 10 of the American Athletic Conference each year. She is now 9th on the SMU career blocks list. The 2020-21 team captain is a multi-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Executive Board, and now serves as the Vice President for External Affairs and liaison to the Diversity and Inclusion Council. She completed her bachelor's degree in May 2020 with a Double Major in Fashion Media and Advertising specializing in Strategic Brand Management. She will receive her Masters in Advertising this May.

Kansas 3, Wichita State 0

The Wichita State University volleyball team fell at the University of Kansas, 3-0, Saturday, March 20, at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. The set scores were 22-25, 22-25 and 20-25.
 
Wichita State (8-7, 3-5 American) is scheduled to wrap up its 2021 regular season spring schedule with a pair of home matches March 26-27 against the Houston Cougars. First serve times at Charles Koch Arena are 7 p.m. Friday, March 26, and 1 p.m. Saturday, March 27.
 
Senior Emma Wright had 10 kills and three blocks, and hit .476, while freshman Natalie Foster and sophomore Sophia Rohling each had seven kills, leading the Shockers.
 
Kansas (10-10) outhit WSU in the match, .333 to .255.
 
Caroline Crawford had a match-high 18 kills and hit a blistering .739 with just one error on 23 attempts and added five blocks, pacing the Jayhawks.

Texas State 3, Houston 1

The University of Houston Volleyball dropped its final nonconference match of the season, falling to Texas State by a score of 3-1 (22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 17-25) on Saturday night.
 
Saturday marks the first time the Cougars (12-4, 8-0 AAC) have dropped back-to-back contests this season. Houston's offense struggled to find momentum throughout the match, posting a season-low in kills for a four-set match with 44.
 
For the first time this year, junior Isabel Theut led the team in kills, recording 13 on the night. Freshman Sarah Martinez posted a team-high 15 digs against the Bobcats (29-8, 15-1 Sun Belt). She was joined by junior Torie Frederick as those with double-digit digs.