Tulsa Volleyball Gets First AAC Win, Downs East Carolina in Four

Saturday, September 24

Reynolds Center

12:00 p.m.

Tulsa

12-2 (1-1AAC)

East Carolina

10-2 (0-2AAC)

East Carolina

Tulsa

Tulsa Volleyball Gets First AAC Win, Downs East Carolina in Four

9/24/2016 2:38:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Riley Ubben

TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa Volleyball team earned their first win in American Athletic Conference play on Saturday, defeating East Carolina in four sets in the Reynolds Center. Senior outside hitter Rebecca Reeve led the Hurricane attack with 16 kills while hitting .407, including seven kills in a second set win that tied the match at 1-1.

"She played unbelievable, especially offensively today," said TU Head Coach Ryan Wills. "She takes a huge load for us. She passes, she digs, she's our only full six rotation player out there. She has a lot of responsibility for us and it was a huge match for her offensively, she was just rolling. She did a good job knowing what the defense was doing to her, taking advantage of it, and had some really good swings because of it."

The Hurricane came out flat in the opening set, going down three at 6-3 and again at 10-7. A quick 3-0 Tulsa run tied the set up at 10-10, the last tie of the set before East Carolina's 3-0 run gave them a 13-10 advantage and three straight kills put them up 17-13 in a 25-19 win.

Tulsa came out focused in the second set, jumping out to a 9-2 lead behind an effective all-around attack that saw four different Hurricane attackers record kills. Trinity Alualu had two in the opening moments along with Reeve, whose 10^th kill of the match would later put the Hurricane up five at 21-16 after ECU pulled with four on a quick run. A Rachel Moore kill followed by an ECU error extended the TU lead to seven before Moore converted once again along with Erica Bohannon to close out a 25-17 set victory.

"I think we just executed in the serve-pass game [after the first set]," said Wills. "We were a little bit more efficient offensively in the second set, doubling our kills with about the same amount of errors. Our serving came along and our passing allowed us to get in a rhythm when some other things weren't working as well."

TU took advantage of multiple East Carolina miscues early in the third, grabbing a 5-2 advantage before Alualu put the Hurricane up 8-3. ECU pulled with three at 12-9, but Tulsa responded quickly with six consecutive conversions capped off by two Haley Coulter kills followed by a combined block with Jaime Rahilly. Moore closed out the set with one of her six kills, 25-18.

ECU grabbed a 4-1 lead in the fourth set behind two kills from Natalie Montini before the Hurricane tied it up at 4-4. Down three, Ashton Anderson eventually brought the Hurricane within one after a service ace, 12-11, before Bohannon tied the set up and helped TU take a 16-15 lead with three consecutive kills. Alualu and Moore combined for a block to retake a one-point lead before four ECU errors and an Alualu kill put TU ahead 22-16 in a convincing 25-17 fourth set win.

The Hurricane will continue AAC play with their first road matches of the season beginning with a contest at Houston on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. before traveling to New Orleans, La. to battle Tulane on Oct. 2.

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