In the defense-heavy match, Tulane held the advantage in the hitting percentage department as it hit at 21.1 percent compared to the Golden Eagles’ 15.2 percent. In other categories, the Green Wave had 93 digs compared to the Golden Eagles’ 87, and Tulane held a 17-6 advantage in blocks.

Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was junior Erin Freer, who contributed her seventh double-double of the year when she ended the match by tying her career best with 21 attacks and 18 digs. Along with Freer, senior Ann Lopata and sophomore Theresa Coughlin also finished with double-digit kills. In addition, freshman Jamie Mueller led the team with 23 digs and senior Gemma Greer finished the match with a team-high 59 assists.

With the win, Tulane improved its season record to 19-2 and a perfect 5-0 record in conference play. The loss brought the Golden Eagles’ record to 5-13 with a conference mark of 2-3.

Saturday saw the Golden Eagles travel to the Payne Center to take on Southern Mississippi. Southern Miss came into the contest as the hottest team in C-USA, riding a 12-match winning streak. The 12-match winning streak grew to 13 as Southern Mississippi earned a three-game victory with final scores of 32-30, 30-27, and 30-25.

In this match, Coughlin led the team with 12 attacks along with eight digs. Junior Erica Heisser and Lopata each finished with 11 attacks. Along with her nine attacks, Freer was team leader in digs with 13, and Greer led the team in assists with 45.

Even though both of their opponents came into the matches as the hottest teams in the conference, the Golden Eagles did not feel any added pressure heading into those matches.

“We knew the importance of the two matches going up against the two teams, but it did not intimidate us at all,” Coughlin said.

“We were well prepared going into the match and knew both teams very well but their records did not effect us,” freshman Nicole Wallace said.

Prior to this weekend’s matches, Marquette had momentum on its side as it had won its two previous conference matches. Even with the two losses, Coughlin does not feel they have lost a lot of momentum.

“Our momentum has not been hurt by the two losses,” she said. “We will be at home this weekend and will be working hard in practice this week. We also look forward to be playing at home.”

The two home matches this week will be on Friday when the team takes on Memphis, which has a conference mark of 4-1, and St. Louis, which is still searching for its first conference victory.

The range of opponents appears to not bother Wallace, who feels that the team will be at the same level for both games.

“We have to take each day a game at a time,” she said. “We need to bring the same amount of intensity to each game.”

With the two losses the Golden Eagles fell to 5-14 overall and 2-4 in C-USA.