Sept. 13, 2008
TULSA, Okla. - Led by all-tournament performers Kelsey Wood - the most valuable player - Jennifer Eichler and Julia Kenealy, the Tulsa University volleyball team stormed to a 3-0 sweep of Long Island Saturday evening in the final match of the Tulsa Invitational at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The tournament victory is the Golden Hurricane's third straight to begin the 2008 season. TU defeated the Black Birds on Saturday 25-18, 25-14 and 25-20 to move to 10-1 on the season, while Long Island drops to 4-9. TU swept through the tournament, also defeating Jackson State 3-0, Sam Houston State 3-0, Austin Peay 3-2.
"I think it was a good tournament, and we were tested in a couple of matches," said Tulsa head coach Ed Allen. "I think the quality of play was outstanding in a couple of the matches. All of our seniors ultimately came through in the last match as well, and that won the championship. It's nice to get three tournament championships in a row to start the year. And we know that we can play a whole lot better than what we're playing, even yet."
Wood, a senior libero, dug out several difficult balls and provided solid passes for the rest of the Hurricane on her way to 19 digs for the match to wrap up an MVP performance during the weekend. Eichler, a junior outside hitter, had eight kills and four digs, while Kenealy, a junior middle hitter, had four kills, three digs and two assisted blocks.
Joining Eichler, Kenealy and Wood on the all-tournament team was Austin Peay's Stephanie Champine and Jessica Mollman as well as Sam Houston State's Anna Ferguson.
For the match, Tulsa hit at a .155 clip, while forcing the Black Birds into .033 hitting and 26 turnovers. Senior Beth Hodge contributed a double-double with 13 digs and a game-high 11 kills. Sophomore middle hitter Hannah Stout added four kills, hit .333, and had three block assists. Freshman setter Rachel Vukson provided 27 assists in the match.
"I thought we gave a better defensive effort in the championship game," Allen said. "I thought we passed the ball extremely effectively - 2.5 (average attack options per set) - which is exactly what we strive for in each of the games. Our ball control out of our service receptions was good. We gave a much better defensive effort all the way around and we were very consistent at the service line. So we didn't do a whole lot to hurt ourselves, which translated into a 3-0 victory."
Tulsa began the first set by getting out to a 4-0 lead before Long Island tied the set at four apiece. The Hurricane pulled away with a 17-7 run to make the score 21-11, and finished up the 25-18 set win with a kill from Hodge. TU opened the second set with a 12-5 run, and held its lead steady until the score was 15-10 in favor of the Hurricane. At that point, Tulsa closed the set with a 10-4 run, and once again Hodge, on a pass from Vukson, slammed home the final point.
The third set was close all the way, as Tulsa turned a 6-6 tie into a 10-7 advantage behind the service of Eichler, a couple of Long Island errors and a Vukson dump over the net for a kill. The score was tied at 14 apiece, but the Hurricane pulled away with a 9-3 run, and won 25-20 as the final exclamation point was provided by Eichler.
The Golden Hurricane returns to action Tuesday with its Conference USA opener against SMU in Dallas, before traveling to Iowa next weekend for the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge. Tickets for the Tulsa Conference USA portion of the season are available by visiting the TU Athletics Ticket office in person, by telephone at (918) 631-GO-TU or on the web at www.TulsaHurricane.com.
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