Tulane Beach Volleyball Falls Twice on Opening Day of Tourney
The 2026 beach volleyball campaign began for No. 20 Tulane Friday at White Sands Volleyball Courts with the opening day of the Green Wave Invitational. Tulane took to the sand twice and lost a pair of duals to No. 12 LSU and Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.
TU Falls to 12th Ranked Tigers
The day opened with a 4-1 loss to the 12th-ranked Tigers early in the morning. Preseason All-Conference USA selections Skylar Ensign and Molly Trodd earned a sweep at the second flight, 21-19 and 21-18. This was Tulane’s only match victory in the dual, as the Tigers swept the remaining four match-ups. The exhibition sixth flight went a full three sets as McKenzie Cutler and Giorgia Walther lost the first set 21-14 before rallying for a second-set victory by the same score. The duo pushed the LSU pair to extra points but ultimately fell 18-16.
Part Two of Day One Not Successful for the Wave
In Tulane’s second dual of the day, the Green Wave squared off against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), but the Wave fell again by a 4-1 score. The third flight notched the lone Tulane win this time, as Amirah Ali and Sam O’Connor swept via 21-13, 21-13 margins. Though suffering a sweep at flight one, Katie Hansen and Emma Morris left it all on the sand, dropping a marathon first set 29-27 before losing a close second set 21-18. Ensign and Trodd claimed the opening set at flight two, 21-12, but the Islanders rebounded for wins of 21-19, 15-10 across the following two frames. Flights four and five went to TAMU-CC by way of the sweep. In the exhibition sixth flight, the Wave claimed a three-set victory. Avery Burks and Gigi Gallegos won the first set 21-15 before the Islanders forced the third frame with a 21-19 victory. The Wave tandem held firm in the last set, winning 15-12.
Tulane is back in action Saturday for the final day of the tournament at White Sands Volleyball Courts. The Green Wave will play three times, beginning with a contest against Oregon at 8:30 a.m. Match-ups against South Florida and New Orleans will follow at 1:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively.
Portions Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.