No. 4 Houston Falls to No. 5 Tulane in Five Sets

ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Houston Volleyball team held a 2-1 match lead in the opening round of the inaugural American Athletic Conference Championship, but the Cougars were unable to preserve its advantage and fell to fifth-seeded Tulane in five sets (18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 6-15) on Friday night.

With the loss, the Cougars fell to16-16 on the season, the first time they've been at the .500 winning percentage mark since Oct. 4. Houston's .219 hitting percentage on the night was also the third time in the past four matches that the Cougars have surpassed the .200 plateau.

The Cougars' offense was guided by freshman Abbie Jackson, who posted a team-high 17 kills. She was joined by sophomore middle blocker Isabel Theut (13) and freshman middle blocker Rachel Tullos (11) as those who eclipsed the 10-kill mark for Houston.

Commanding the Houston offense was sophomore setter Kelsey Childers, who tied a career-high with 44 helpers. Defensively, senior libero Katie Karbo tallied a match-high 26 digs. Tullos led the charge at the net, blocking nine balls to extend her nation-leading mark to 180 total blocks on the season.

Tulane 3, Houston 2
Set 1
With both sides battling it out to start the contest, Tulane managed to hold a three-point lead at the media timeout and then extended its advantage to 19-12, forcing Houston to call a timeout. The Cougars found a way to cut the deficit to as little as five, but it proved to be too much to overcome, as the Green Wave took the first set 25-18.

Set 2
Houston quickly put the first set behind them, and came out firing in the second, as back-to-back service aces from freshman defensive specialist Karly Berkland put the Cougars ahead 7-2, resulting in a timeout from Tulane. After the third kill of the night from Tullos maintained Houston's five-point advantage, Theut downed a kill of her own to put the Cougars out in front 17-12. Once Jackson collected her lone service ace of the night to give Houston a 21-14 lead, there was no looking back for the Cougars, who took set two 25-16.

Set 3
After Tulane built itself four-point lead to start out the third, another kill from Tullos brought Houston back to within three, trailing 9-6. The Green Wave then extended their advantage to six at the media timeout, as they were out in front 15-9. With Houston trailing by as many as seven at one point in the set, the Cougars began to storm back thanks to Jackson, as her ninth kill of the match brought Houston back to within five. The Cougars finally climbed all the way back and tied the score at 20 off a block from Jackson and Tullos. From there, a 5-2 run, capped off by a kill from senior outside hitter Claire Karsten, sealed the 25-22 set victory for Houston, who claimed a 2-1 match lead.

Set 4
Tulane responded though, as the Green Wave went out front 11-7. Once they stretched the advantage to five, Houston was forced to call a timeout, but the break in action wouldn't be enough to stop Tulane's momentum, who went on to win the fourth 25-17 to force the decisive fifth set.

Set 5
After a monster kill from Jackson tied the score at three, Tulane went on a 12-3 run to seal the 15-6 set victory and seal the 3-2 match win.

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Team Stats

Abbie Jackson

Isabel Theut

Rachel Tullos

Kendall Haywood

Players Mentioned

Karly Berkland

Kelsey Childers

Abbie Jackson

Katie Karbo

Claire Karsten

Isabel Theut

Rachel Tullos

Players Mentioned

Karly Berkland

Kelsey Childers

Abbie Jackson

Katie Karbo

Claire Karsten

Isabel Theut

Rachel Tullos

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