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Tulsa
Houston (C-USA)
Tulsa Sweeps Houston, 3-0
11/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2005
Tulsa, Okla. - The University of Tulsa volleyball squad moved a match closer to a division title on Friday night with a 3-0 (30-25, 30-27, 30-23) sweep of Houston before a crowd of 257 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The win improved Tulsa to 21-5 on the season, 8-4 in Conference USA matches. Houston, current leader of the West Division, fell to 14-10 (9-3 in conference) on the year.
Senior Dana Weddle posted a match-best 16 kills for the Golden Hurricane, playing in her next-to-last home match. Junior Germana Hilario and sophomore Kassiana Urnau recorded 13 kills apiece for the Hurricane as well. Sophomore Julia Silva averaged 14 assists per game, finishing with 42 on the match to go along with 13 digs. It was her 14th double-double performance of the season. Senior Evyn Wills posted a team-high 16 digs.
The first game of the match was a back-and-fourth affair, with 11 ties and five lead changes. The Hurricane battled back from deficits of three and five points early in the contest to tie the stanza at 10-10. Houston actually scored the first three points of the contest, and then had its largest lead at 8-3. However, a kill by Weddle sparked the Hurricane. After the score was tied, neither team could pull away as the largest lead was only two points. Following a service error by the Cougars, allowing TU to take a 25-24 lead, a kill by junior Brie Penaluna off the bench made sure the Hurricane would not relinquish the lead.
Urnau recorded her first of three aces on the night to put TU up 27-24. Following a UH timeout and a ball handling error, Urnau posted her second ace of the evening to put TU up 29-25. A kill by UH's star Kariny Ritter, delayed the inevitable as Weddle sealed the TU win with a kill at 30-25.
The second stanza started much differently. TU continued to build on its momentum by scoring the first five points of the game. However, Houston showed why they had won nine of their last 11 matches by tying the score at 10-10. A four-point Tulsa run and 14-10 lead, quickly turned into a 15-15 tie. Houston seemed to grab the momentum back with a Ritter kill to make it 19-17. Tulsa came back, again, to take a 21-19 lead; only to see UH tie the game for an eighth time at 22-22.
A kill by Silva allowed TU to pull ahead 24-22, this time TU would not give up the lead. Another Silva kill gave TU a 29-26 lead. A UH service error gave TU a 30-27 win.
The third and final game started much like the first. Houston scored the first three points of the game, two of which were off TU errors. A Cougar ball-handling error capped a 5-2 TU run as well as tied the score at 5-5. Houston tried to swing the momentum again, only for the Hurricane to tie the game at 15-15. This time, however, a Weddle kill gave TU the lead for good. Weddle's kill and a UH attacking error capped a 7-0 TU run, giving the Hurricane a 17-15 lead. TU would expand its lead to 21-17 on an error by Ritter. The Hurricane would maintain its four-point lead over the few points before back-to-back UH errors forced the Cougars to take a timeout at 27-21. Three kills by Weddle later, TU won the match with a 30-23 victory.
Tulsa is now a full match behind Houston for the divisional lead. The two divisional winners, along with the next two ranked teams in the overall C-USA standings, will receive byes in the first round of the conference tournament. Tulsa is currently third in the league standings, behind Marshall and Houston. With the win, TU has won 21 matches in a season for the first time since 1980, when the Hurricane finished 30-11 for the best record in school history for both wins and winning percentage.
