Tulsa Drops Season-Opener at North Texas on Friday, 3-1

Friday, August 25

Denton, Texas

5 pm

Tulsa

0-1

North Texas

1-0

Tulsa

North Texas

Tulsa Drops Season-Opener at North Texas on Friday, 3-1

8/25/2017 7:38:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Jordan Korphage

Box Score (.pdf)

DENTON, Texas — North Texas defeated Tulsa, 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19) despite a career-high 19 kills by senior Emily Thorson on Friday evening as the teams opened the 2017 season with the first game of the North Texas Invitational.

Thorson added three digs and three blocks to her stat line to lead the Golden Hurricane (0-1), while freshman Lindsey Ledyard tallied a match-high 36 assists in her collegiate debut. Junior Rachel Moore added eight kills to go along with 10 digs and sophomore Taylor Horsfall finished with a match-best 17 digs.

After dropping the first two sets, each by scores of 25-17, the Golden Hurricane stormed back to take the third set, 25-21. Tulsa hit .250 in the set and took advantage of 10 errors by the Mean Green (1-0).

Thorson, who had six kills in the stanza, helped put the set away with four winners down the stretch after North Texas had pulled within 20-19. Three straight kills by Thorson made it 23-20 before Ashton Anderson's service ace got the Hurricane to set point.

After a point for the Mean Green, Thorson dashed any hopes of a late rally with a kill to end the set and bring Tulsa within 2-1 in the match.

In the fourth set, North Texas tried to pull away after a back-and-forth start to the set with four consecutive points pushed the home squad a 15-11 lead. TU clawed back minutes later with three points of its own, including an ace from freshman Emily Hubbard, to get within 17-16.

Tulsa inched closer at 20-19 following Ebony Carter's kill, but the Hurricane could not get over the hump and retake the lead. The Mean Green closed out the match with five consecutive points for the 25-19 victory.

TU will continue play in the North Texas Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 26 at noon and 3:30 p.m. against UTEP and Montana, respectively.