Tulsa
UCF
Volleyball Loses 3-0 at Home to UCF
9/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2008
Final Stats
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Tulsa volleyball team was defeated 3-0 (15-25, 21-25, 20-25) by UCF in a Conference USA match Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The Golden Hurricane falls to 14-3 on the year and 2-1 in C-USA play, as UCF's record improves to 10-6 and 2-1 in C-USA. The loss is Tulsa's first at home this season, and first home loss since Oct. 28, 2007.
"If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're getting," said Tulsa head coach Ed Allen. "This team needs some leadership. This team needs to play with collective heart for an entire match."
Tulsa was besieged by 18 UCF blocks and 23 attack errors - compounded by the blocks - in hitting .136 for the match. TU was led on offense by senior outside hitter Beth Hodge who recorded 11 kills and led the team with a .241 hitting percentage. Sophomore setter Rachel Vukson had 38 assists, junior middle hitter Julia Kenealy had four block assists and senior libero Malorey Grove led the squad with nine digs. UCF, meanwhile hit .396 for the match, committing only 11 attack errors.
Tulsa won the first point of the match, but fell behind and trailed for the rest of the first two sets. Nine TU attacks were blocked by UCF in the first frame, setting the tone for the match. The Hurricane's first lead since the initial point came at the start of the third set, when TU began 3-0 on the strength of two of two blocks of their own.
While in the first set, Tulsa fell behind by as many as eight and nine points; the second two were much closer. In the second stanza, neither team led by more than two points until UCF pulled away at 19-15, and Tulsa could not recover, falling 25-21. In the third set, the Hurricane took a lead to start, but could not hold on, and found itself down 9-4. TU climbed back and made a game of it in forcing four tie scores, the latest being at 13-13, but could not do enough in the end to extend the match past three sets.
TU will take a weekend road trip to Houston Oct. 3-5 to play at Houston on Friday and at Rice on Sunday. Admission for all Golden Hurricane volleyball home matches is free. For all Tulsa volleyball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com.
