Tulane Beach Volleyball Set for AVCA Central Qualifier
The Tulane beach volleyball program will partake in its second event of the fall slate this weekend in Huntsville, Alabama, with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Central Qualifier. The Green Wave will have a trio of pairs competing to earn a spot for the program in the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship.
The event is hosted by Rally Volleyball and features two divisions – the bid and open divisions. The bid division is comprised of 32 pairs across 11 teams that will compete in a single-elimination bracket over two days, which is played to place. Three bids for the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship will be awarded to the programs of the top-three finishers. If a bid cannot be accepted, or if a program already has met the maximum of two bids, the qualifying bids will trickle down to the next eligible pair(s). The bracket has the pairs seeded based on TruVolley rankings. The open division features pair pools played over the two days with no bids awarded to the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship.
Tulane On a Roll for AVCA Nationals
The Green Wave has already earned one of two possible bids for the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship due to last season’s performance with a runner-up result in the 2025 Conference USA Championship and a top-20 ranking. In an effort to earn the second possible bid, three pairs will represent the Wave in the bid division. Seeded second overall in the event is the pairing of Katie Hansen and Emma Morris. One spot behind in third is the duo of Skylar Ensign and Molly Trodd. Tulane’s final pairing is Amirah Ali and Tawny Ensign, seeded 12th.
Matches continue through Sunday with the championship contest taking place at 12:15 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Hansen and Morris open play against a pair from Stephen F. Austin, the 31st seed. S. Ensign and Trodd begin with a match against the 30th seed, a pairing from Austin Peay. Ali and T. Ensign will play their first match against a duo from UT Martin, the 21st seed.
The open division will see the remainder of the Tulane roster competing in pool play. The other 10 teams at the qualifier include Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia State, Mercer, North Alabama, Stephen F. Austin, UAB, Southern Mississippi, Chattanooga, and UT Martin.
The 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship also takes place in Huntsville in two weeks from November 7 to 9. It will be the penultimate fall competition for Tulane, who concludes the fall season with its own Tulane Pairs Tournament on November 22 at the White Sands Volleyball Courts in New Orleans.
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.