Tulsa Volleyball Falls to North Texas, 3-0, to Conclude Tulsa Invitational

Saturday, September 19

Reynolds Center

7:00 p.m.

Tulsa

5-6

North Texas

8-6

North Texas

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Volleyball Falls to North Texas, 3-0, to Conclude Tulsa Invitational

9/19/2015 10:09:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Drake Allen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2015
Contact: Drake Allen
Phone: 918.631.3720

Tulsa Volleyball Falls to North Texas, 3-0, to Conclude Tulsa Invitational

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa volleyball team fell to North Texas, 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 12-25) Saturday night to conclude the Tulsa Invitational at the Donald W. Reynold Center. Junior outside hitter Erica Bohannon recorded 10 kills, and junior libero Brooke Berryhill led the way defensively for TU with 18 digs.

The Golden Hurricane fell to 5-7, and North Texas improved its record to 9-6. Tulsa defeated Houston Baptist 3-1 earlier Saturday, and swept Oral Roberts Friday night to complete a 2-1 weekend. The Hurricane begins American Athletic Conference play next weekend as they travel to Tulane and Houston on Sept. 25 and 27, respectively.

Bohannon and senior middle blocker Ashley Hooper were two of six players named to the All-Tournament team, after 5.10 and 2.60 kills per set, respectively. Hooper led the Hurricane hitters with a .309 attack percentage, and Bohannon hit .246 on 126 attacks.

"We got better this weekend and went 2-1, but we didn't have the stamina to finish out how we needed," Tulsa Head Coach Ryan Wills said. "We played extremely well Friday night against a good ORU team, and got a victory in three (sets) at their place. Then we came in this morning and grinded out a win over Houston Baptist. We played a good North Texas team tonight, with one of the best players in the country. Systematically they did some things that took us out of system offensively, and we didn't deal with it very well. They hit a really high percentage, and if we play better defense, we find ourselves in a little better position."

In the initial frame, North Texas took an early 11-6 lead forcing a TU timeout. Tulsa battled back to bring the score within two points at 15-13. The two teams fought closely late in the set with the score at 21-20, North Texas. Tulsa knotted the score, 22-22, but it wasn't enough as North Texas won the set 25-23. Boahnnon tallied seven kills and Berryhill racked up 10 digs in the frame.

In the second stanza, Tulsa trailed early with the score at 7-2 and at 14-7. The Hurricane battled back to bring the score within five points at 20-15, but they fell short as North Texas ended the set at 25-18. Hooper, senior middle blocker Nicole Newton and junior outside hitter Rebecca Reeve each recorded three kills for TU, while junior outside hitter Trinity Alualu tallied five digs.

In the final frame, the Hurricane fell behind early, 10-4, but fought back to bring the score within 12-9 and force a North Texas timeout. UNT then extended its lead to 18-11, and scored seven of the final eight points to close out the set.

The Golden Hurricane travels to New Orleans to open American Athletic Conference play at 7 p.m. Friday, and then plays at Houston at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"One of the things we talked about going into the season, is this is probably the toughest pre-conference schedule we've ever played as a program," Wills said. "From top to bottom, we didn't have any matches off. We just talked about staying together and getting better. There are a lot of things we can work on. We start conference play next week, and everyone is 0-0, and it's time for us to go compete for a championship like Tulsa does."

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