Tulsa Volleyball Splits On The Final Day Of North Texas Invitational

Saturday, August 26

Denton, Texas

12 pm

Tulsa

1-1

UTEP

0-2

Tulsa

UTEP

Tulsa Volleyball Splits On The Final Day Of North Texas Invitational

8/26/2017 6:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Jordan Korphage

UTEP Box Score (.pdf) | Montana Box Score (.pdf) | Updated Stats

DENTON, Texas — The University of Tulsa volleyball team split a pair of matches on Saturday, the final day of the North Texas Invitational. The Golden Hurricane started the day with a sweep of UTEP (25-23, 25-15, 25-19) before dropping a tight match in five sets against Montana (26-24, 14-25, 20-25, 25-15, 15-10).

Freshman Emily Hubbard helped lead Tulsa (1-2) with 18 kills in the matches, including 16 in the five-set contest against the Grizzlies (2-0). Fellow freshman Lindsey Ledyard also had a pair of strong outings with 81 assists on the day to go along with 18 digs.

Tulsa started the day with a sweep of UTEP (0-2) to earn its first victory of the season. Freshman Callie Cook led the way with nine kills and the Golden Hurricane took advantage of 28 Miners errors in the match. TU held UTEP to a -.053 attack percentage and racked up eight blocks.

UTEP opened the first set with three consecutive errors to give the Hurricane an early lead. The Miners came back and took their first lead at 13-12 to set the stage for a tight, back-and-forth battle the rest of the set.

The Miners led 22-21 before kills by senior Ebony Carter and junior Emily Thorson reclaimed the lead and forced a UTEP timeout. UTEP tied the score at 23, but a service error put Tulsa on top again and sophomore Mariah Pardo closed out the set with an ace for the 25-23 win.

Tulsa dominated the final two sets of the match and claimed the win by scores of 25-15 and 25-19.

In the second set, UTEP hit -.179 as the Hurricane totaled six blocks. Tulsa led by as much as 10 points in the set and Carter closed it out with a kill on set point. TU jumped out to a 10-2 cushion in the third set and never looked back on its way to the sweep.

After a short rest the Hurricane watched as Montana started fast with a 13-5 lead in the first set. However, TU battled back and rattled off nine straight points for a 23-15 advantage. Moore's kill brought set point with a slim 24-23 advantage, but the Grizzles scored the final three points to escape with a 26-24 win.

TU bounced back from the close setback with a dominant 25-14 win in the second set and a 25-20 triumph in the third to grab a 2-1 lead in the match.

But Montana forced a fifth and final set with a 25-15 victory in the fourth stanza.

The Grizzlies had a 6-3 lead in the fifth before Tulsa knotted the score with three straight points. The teams traded winners until Montana broke a 9-9 tie by scoring six of the final seven points to claim the set and the match.

Tulsa will return to the court for three matches next weekend at the Cougar Classic in Edwardsville, Ill. The Golden Hurricane will open the event at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1, against UMKC (2-1).