Dec. 3, 2011

Box Score |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery  |  Box Score

LOS ANGELES - Tyler Henderson and Kellie Culbertson combined for 22 kills to lead the Tulsa volleyball team, but the Hurricane fell at No. 1 USC 3-0 (10-25, 20-25, 19-25) in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball championship Saturday evening at the Galen Center.

The Golden Hurricane ends its season a 28-7 after winning its second straight Conference USA Championship and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years. USC (27-4) will advance to the regional round where it will face Hawaii in Honolulu. The Women of Troy had four players with double-digit kills, led by Alexis Olgard's 11 kills and .733 hitting percentage.

Culbertson, a native of nearby Long Beach, Calif., tallied her second straight double-double and 14th of the season with 12 kills and 13 digs, hitting .257, while Henderson recorded 10 kills in the match. Diana Silva had 19 digs and Jessica Adams 13 digs for the Hurricane. Jordan Clampitt and Bailey Clampitt recorded 22 and 14 assists, respectively.

Tulsa fought back from a 25-10 loss in the first set and kept each of the next two frames much closer, losing by five and six points, 25-20 and 25-19. The Hurricane kept the Women of Troy on their toes, particularly in the final frame, when it stayed as close as three points until the end when USC pulled away.

"We've had a great year. We lost to the No. 1 team in the nation on their home court in the second round of the NCAA Tournament," Tulsa Head Coach Steven McRoberts said. "We're not ecstatic about (losing), but once we got over our nerves a little bit in the first set, and USC's absolute ability to not make any mistakes for a whole set, I felt like we settled down quite a bit and played pretty well in sets two and three. I felt like a couple of errors in those two sets really cost us. If we could have flipped those the other way and actually scored off of those opportunities, it could've been a different match. But we would've had to play at the highest level we've played at all year in this match to win."

Tulsa hit .158 as a team (39-20-120) with 39 kills, 38 assists, one service ace, 56 digs and 3.0 blocks. USC hit .372 (48-6-113) with 48 kills, 41 assists, two aces, 52 digs and 7.0 blocks.

USC hit .444 and had 4.0 blocks in the opening set, while Tulsa hit -.029 with eight kills. Henderson had five of those eight kills, while Culbertson added five digs and Jordan Clampitt had six assists. The Trojans converted 10 of 11 sideout opportunities.

Tulsa began the second set with two straight kills, the opposite of its two errors to open the match. TU took a 5-2 lead, and was tied 7-7 before USC began to pull away to a 25-20 win. The Women of Troy led by as much as seven points at 22-15, but the Hurricane fought back to score five of the final eight points in the set. Silva had 12 digs and Culbertson had six kills. TU hit .250 in the second frame, while USC hit .362.

The Hurricane took a 3-2 lead early in the third set, but USC came back with a 9-2 run to move ahead 11-5. Tulsa closed the score to 17-14 with a 9-6 spurt, and trailed by three points as late as 22-19 before the Trojans scored the final three points of the set. TU hit .214 with 16 kills and 20 digs in the final frame, while USC hit .333 with 16 kills and 16 digs.

For all Tulsa volleyball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. Follow Tulsa Volleyball on twitter (www.twitter.com/TulsaVolleyball) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/TulsaVolleyball).