Press Release courtesy of Tulane Athletics
The Green Wave will play four scrimmages in the spring, hosting two tournaments before traveling to Houston and Baton Rouge to close out the schedule, Tulane volleyball head coach Jim Barnes announced.
“They’re scrimmages for us, but they’re critical in developing our team,” Barnes said. “This is the first time since our staff has been here that we’ve had a full team here in the spring to really train them. We’ve got fourteen in the gym, and the two freshman who enrolled early are doing outstanding, so it’s going to be really important to play these four scrimmages and get the most out of them.”
| Date (Location) | Tournament |
| March 10 (Hertz Center) |
vs UNO, Southeastern, Xavier, South Alabama |
| March 17 (Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse) |
vs UL Lafayette, Nicholls |
| April 14 | @ Houston Juniors Collegiate Invitational |
| April 21 | @ LSU |
The Green Wave open the spring schedule Saturday, March 11 in Hertz Center with their first spring tournament, welcoming Xavier, Southeastern, South Alabama and crosstown rival UNO. One weekend later, UL Lafayette and Nicholls venture into New Orleans to face off against Tulane inside Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
“The first one is a New Orleans-based tournament with UNO, Southeastern, Xavier and South Alabama coming, so that’ll be a good one we host in Hertz,” Barnes said. “The next week, we’ve host a tri-match in Devlin with UL Lafayette and Nicholls. Those first two weeks allow us to work with this young team at home.”
Tulane then makes the trip west to compete in the Houston Juniors Collegiate Invitational on April 14. The Green Wave are the among numerous Power 6 programs in Houston that weekend, including Baylor, LSU, Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M, Houston and Texas.
The Green Wave wrap up their spring competition schedule April 21, traveling upriver to take on LSU.
“We finish with two much tougher tournaments,” Barnes said. “In Houston, we’re playing a lot of Power 6 schools, and then we’re at LSU. It’s a perfect spring slate for us because we’ll really be able to develop this team over that time. They’re going to learn our system quickly and pick up on the basic techniques, the nuts and bolts basics to really get the foundation set early on.”
On the heels of the 2017 season in which Tulane finished with a record of 14-19 overall, 3-17 The American and fell short of a postseason berth, Barnes said he is excited to see the team back in action. He and his coaching staff believe that the young squad, which now includes two early enrollees in freshmen Yvette Burcescu and Makala Heidelberg, will benefit from the early playing experience.
“We’ll really be able to see how they react in game situations, learn under pressure and operate our system,” Barnes said. “The spring is when you work all those things out so that when the fall’s here, they’ve already got a lot of that understood. Getting them out all there early really helps us because our team can be a step ahead when the season comes around.”
All home scrimmages are free and open to the public and will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
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