Tulane’s Women’s Volleyball team has struggled in their conference games as of late. Coming off of two defeats in the Tulane Invitational, the losing trend has only continued leaving the team with a 1-5 conference record. 

Their first match came against the University of Houston where the Green Wave lost in a five-set thriller. It was back and forth with Tulane taking the first and third sets, but a Cougar squad led by Isabel Thuat took the fifth set 15-8. 

Tulane then hosted the University of Cincinnati. Despite bringing two games into a win-by-two situation, Amarchi Osuji’s 17 kills and Jillian Dits’s 17 digs weren’t enough to hold off the Bearcats as they beat Tulane 3-1. 

Next, it was a two game road trip where the Green Wave challenged both Temple University and Eastern Carolina. It was another five-set match against Temple, and, after having a 2-1 lead, Tulane could not close it out. Even with Osuji’s 22 kills, Tulane committed six and four attacking errors in the last two sets, leaving them with another loss.

At Eastern Carolina, Tulane dealt with more of the same. After winning the first set, it looked like Tulane could capitalize, but it was again the nine and seven attacking errors in the third and fourth sets that led to another 1-3 loss. 

Returning to the Devlin Fieldhouse, Tulane looked to capture their first conference victory of the season, and they did just that. It was Osuji leading the team with 17 kills, propelling Tulane to a 3-1 win over the University of Southern Florida . 

Coming off the win, Tulane looked to continue their winning streak but was stopped by the University of Central Florida in a crushing 3-0 defeat. It was UCF’s McKenna Melville who led the team with 18 kills, complemented by Amber Olsen’s 11 digs, that shut-out Tulane at home. 

It’s apparent that this Tulane team, coached by Jordan Price, is struggling to close out games and keep the errors to a minimum. With a lot of players leaving last season, this fresh-faced team has experienced a lot of adversity early in their season. It will be a process for coach Price to reduce these errors and bring the team back to a conference competitor. 

Coming up next, Tulane will be traveling to the University Of Memphis for an in-conference match and then to Southern Methodist University for a match this Sunday.