Aug. 31, 2012

Box Score|

Tulsa at Kansas PDF

LAWRENCE, Kan. - LAWRENCE, Kan. - The Tulsa volleyball squad started play at the Kansas Invitational with a sweep of Arkansas State (25-14, 26-24, 27-25), but fell to host Kansas in four sets (20-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-27) on Friday, August 31.

The Golden Hurricane (3-3) will face Nebraska Omaha tomorrow morning in a 11:30 contest to wrap up the weekend.

After dropping the first set 20-25 against Kansas (4-1), Tulsa was able to tie the match at one apiece heading into the third set as the Hurricane stormed back from an eight point deficit to claim the frame 25-23. Tulsa in that second stanza hit .271 with 17 kills.

After the ten minute intermission, Kansas retook the momentum and the third set 25-16 and the fourth frame 27-25 to win the close affair. The fourth set saw eight tie scores and three lead changes.

"We got off to a decent start in the first set, but they controlled it after our good start," Head Coach Steven McRoberts stated. "We were as down as many as eight in the second and came back and had a lot of momentum after the set. I think the ten minute break hurt us, but we will have to use this event as a learning experience. They handled us pretty easily in the third set, and we felt like we controlled the fourth set, but we couldn't finish it off."

Leading the Hurricane charge was senior Tyler Henderson, who tallied 18 kills in 43 attempts and accumulated an attack percentage of .302. Fellow senior Jordan Clampitt collected 33 assists, while senior Jessica Adams totaled 22 digs. Junior Kellie Culbertson fell shy of a double-double as the junior had 16 digs and nine kills.

"Tyler had a solid match for us and Jordan did a good job for us as we switched to a 5-1 rotation," commented McRoberts. "Once we made the switch Jordan did a great job distributing the ball. I felt like our middles throughout the match lifted us at times and did some good things for us. "

As a team, Tulsa hit .144 (48-24-167), while Kansas hit .282 (63-19-156). TU collected 45 assists and 62 digs compared to KU's 59 assists and 81 digs.

"We got a lot better performance earlier in the day when we were balanced," McRoberts said. "The good news is there were a few things tonight that we did well and that we got better at. The main thing we have to work on is our consistency."

Sara McClinton had 22 kills and hit .450 to pace the Jayhawks, while Catherine Carmichael pitched in 16 kills.

Tulsa 3, Arkansas State 0

Tulsa used a balanced attack, led by senior Diana Silva's 15 kills and 12 digs to defeat Arkansas State in straight sets (25-15, 26-24, 27-25) Friday afternoon to open the Kansas Invitational at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.

The Golden Hurricane got big production out of its middle blockers as junior Miriele Gobbo tallied nine kills and hit .400 with 3.0 blocks, and freshman Ashley Hooper hit .500 with eight kills. Senior outside hitter Tyler Henderson recorded nine kills and junior outside hitter Kellie Culbertsonput up eight kills and eight digs for TU.

"We had a balanced attack for that match," McRoberts said. "Tyler was third on the team for attack attempts, which shows our balance. The setters did a good job passing and the hitters did a great job. I thought we were very efficient on the match."

TU hit .348 with 52 total kills and 12 errors in 115 attacks. Senior Jordan Clampitt paced the Hurricane with 27 assists, while sophomore Bailey Clampitt tallied 17 assists. Arkansas State (3-3) hit .171 with 34 kills and 16 in 105 attacks, and was led by Taylor Szypulski and Jasmine Taylor who finished with nine kills apiece.

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-TulsaHurricane.com-