Two Green Wave Pairs in Semifinals After Day One of AVCA Central Qualifier
At the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Central Qualifier on Saturday, two Green Wave pairs secured semifinal spots in the championship bid bracket. Skylar Ensign and Molly Trodd will face off against Katie Hansen and Emma Morris tomorrow morning with Tulane guaranteed a berth in the championship match.
The third-seeded pairing of Ensign and Trodd began the day with a 2-0 victory (21-10, 21-11) over a pair from Austin Peay. Advancing to play a duo from Southern Mississippi, they triumphed in another 2-0 sweep (21-15, 21-10). Their greatest challenge of day came next against a Georgia State pair. After falling 21-18 in the first set, Ensign and Trodd rebounded to claim the following two sets by margins of 21-16 and 15-11 to earn a semifinal berth.
The No. 2 overall seed, Katie Hansen and Emma Morris, opened their day against a pair from Stephen F. Austin, securing a 2-0 sweep (21-11, 21-5). The duo dropped set one against a UAB pair, 21-16, but they responded to secure the following sets 21-17 and 15-9 to move on in the bracket. With a berth in the semifinals on the line, the Wave duo stepped up against a Chattanooga pairing, topping them 21-13 and 21-18 over two sets.
Green Wave Guaranteed Spot in Championship Match
This sets up a bout between teammates as the Tulane pairs will meet Sunday morning in a semifinal match-up. With the Wave pairings facing off against one another, Tulane is guaranteed a spot in the championship match, and thusly, the Wave are guaranteed to earn a second bid to the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship. The title match is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. with Tulane’s winning pair squaring off against the winner of the other semifinal match between pairs from UAB and North Alabama. The semifinal losers will meet in a third-place match, which also takes place at 12:15 p.m.
Tulane had a third pair in the bid division, Amirah Ali and Tawny Ensign. Seeded 12th, they opened against a pair from UT Martin, winning in 2-0 (21-15, 21-8) fashion. They faced off against a pair from North Alabama next, winning set one 21-15. However, the Lions won the next two sets, 21-14, 15-13, to advance in the main bracket. With the tournament played to place, Ali and Ensign moved to a different portion of the bracket to face a pair from Eastern Kentucky, winning in a 2-0 sweep (23-21, 21-14) to conclude the day. Tomorrow morning they will open against a pair from UAB at 9:15 a.m. for a chance to play for ninth place overall.
The event also featured an open division with no bids awarded. This portion of the event is conducted in pool play with pairings able to rotate out and change between matches. Between the pools, various Tulane pairs went 2-6 overall with matches coming against pairings from Georgia State, UAB, Mercer, and North Alabama. Sunday’s pool play will pit Tulane’s pairings against the likes of Mercer, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, and UAB.
Each program is only eligible to receive two bids total for the 2025 AVCA Pairs National Championship. Tulane already held one bid for last season’s successful performance overall, and the all-Wave semifinal match-up guarantees Tulane will secure its other possible bid.
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.