Sept. 19, 2008

Final Stats

Final Box Score in PDF Format

Tulsa, Okla. - Senior Beth Hodge recorded her fourth straight double-double, while junior Jennifer Eichler led the team with 18 kills and freshman setter Rachel Vukson provided 35 assists to lead The University of Tulsa volleyball team to a 3-1 win (25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 25-23) over DePaul Friday afternoon in the opening match of the Iowa Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The victory improves Tulsa's record to 12-1, while DePaul's record falls to 1-8. The Golden Hurricane continues the Hawkeye-Holiday Inn Challenge Saturday with a 10 a.m. match against Portland and closes the tournament against host Iowa at 7 p.m. Saturday. Live stats of all this weekend's matches are available on Gametracker by visiting the Tulsa Athletics website, www.TulsaHurricane.com.

Hodge recorded her double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, while junior middle hitter Julia Kenealy also had 11 kills to go with her four total blocks, including one solo rejection. As a team, the Hurricane hit .258 for the match, led by Kenealy's .455 hitting percentage and sophomore middle hitter Hannah Stout's .375 attack percentage (five kills in eight attempts, two errors).

Defensively, the Golden Hurricane held DePaul to a .122 team attack percentage, bolstered by 7.5 team blocks and 32 DePaul attack errors in the four sets. Senior libero Kelsey Wood led the way with 13 digs and senior defensive player Malorey Grove had 10 digs.

The first set began all-Tulsa, as the Hurricane stormed to a 7-0 lead, before DePaul quickly tied at eight apiece. TU again gained a large lead at 17-9, but the Blue Demons again pulled closer, and Tulsa led 22-20 before scoring five of the final seven points, including three kills by Hodge to win the set 25-20.

The second set was tight all the way and neither team led by more than three points until the score was 19-16 in favor of Tulsa. TU scored a 10-2 run to end the set, including the last eight points to make the score 25-16. Vukson served the final seven points, the second straight set in which she had served seven times in a row, as she opened the first set for TU with seven straight services.

The third set was controlled all the way by DePaul, as Tulsa never led and pulled to within one point only once (after 1-0) to fall 25-20. The fourth set, however, went more in the Golden Hurricane's favor, but it was close the entire time. TU fell behind 3-0, and stayed within three points before tying the score at 8-8. The Blue Demons tried to pull away several times, but Tulsa would not allow it, and finally tied the score at 20-20 and took its first lead of the set at 21-20. From that point on, the Hurricane did not fall behind again, and won the set 25-23 and match 3-1. The fourth set featured seven ties and one crucial lead change for Tulsa.

Tickets for all Golden Hurricane home volleyball matches 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.