Tulane Beach Volleyball Finishes LSU Tourney
In the final day of action at LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium Saturday, Tulane concluded the Tiger Beach Challenge by splitting its two contests of the day. After dropping a 3-2 battle to UAB in the morning, the Green Wave bounced back to claim a 3-2 triumph over Southern Miss in the nightcap. The Green Wave moves to 5-4 on the season.
More Honors for Trodd, Ensign & Burks, Gallegos
Two pairs went undefeated on the day for Tulane, who is receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll and ranked No. 20 in the TruVolley rankings. At the second flight, Molly Trodd and Skylar Ensign earned a pair of sweeps across both duals. Not to be outdone, Avery Burks and Gigi Gallegos did the same at the fourth flight.
The day opened with a bout against UAB, which the Blazers edged out 3-2. Tulane’s lone wins came at the aforementioned second and fourth flights. Trodd and Ensign won by scores of 21-9 and 21-14 while Burks and Gallegos had more of a battle, winning with sets of 21-11 and 26-24. At the top flight, UAB won 21-14, 22-20. The fifth flight was another Blazer sweep by scores of 21-19 and 21-16. The third flight went a full three sets. After UAB won the opening frame 21-18, the Tulane duo of Sam O’Connor and Amirah Ali fought back to win 21-19 in the second. The third frame came down to the wire with UAB barely taking a 15-13 win to seal the dual.
The Wave faced another hard-fought battle in the second dual of the day with a 3-2 win over Southern Miss. The second flight was another sweep for Trodd and Ensign, who claimed both sets by a 21-17 margin. Burks and Gallegos delivered wins of 21-13 and 21-16 at flight four. No matches went to a third set as Southern Miss won the top flight in a sweep with both sets going 21-17. The third flight was another sweep for the Golden Eagles with both sets going 21-19. Tulane’s fifth flight of McKenzie Cutler and Giorgia Walther notched a sweep of their own to help seal the contest for the Wave. They won with sets of 21-16 and 21-13.
On the Agenda
Tulane went 3-1 on the weekend to move to over .500 on the campaign. Next up for Tulane is a trip to the Palmetto State for the Chanticleer Challenge, hosted by Coastal Carolina on March 6 and 7. The Wave will play twice each day with duals against Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Cal Poly, and the host Chanticleers in Conway, South Carolina.
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.