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Tulsa
Oral Roberts
Volleyball Wins Seventh Straight with Sweep of Oral Roberts Tuesday
10/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 20, 2009
Box Score |
Box Score 
TULSA, Okla. - Jennifer Eichler and Tyler Henderson combined for 24 kills and Hannah Stout hit .692 to lead The University of Tulsa volleyball team to a season-series sweep of cross-town rival Oral Roberts with a 3-0 victory Tuesday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The Golden Hurricane improves to 17-6 with the win, while Oral Roberts falls to 9-9 on the season. TU hit .292 for the match (43-12-106) with 42 kills, 398 assists, 51 digs and six blocks. The Hurricane gave the Golden Eagle fits defensively, as ORU hit .080 for the match (30-21-113), and totaled 30 kills, 25 assists, 45 digs and three blocks.
Henderson tallied 13 kills against zero errors and hit .481 in the match, while Eichler recorded 11 kills, eight digs and had three blocks. Stout had nine kills against no errors and hit almost .700 in the match, and senior Julia Kenealy hit .400 (5-1-10) and had three blocks. Freshmen Jessica Adams and Shelbi Pitcher had 14 and 11 digs, respectively. Sophomore Rachel Vukson recorded 20 assists and freshman Jordan Clampitt had 14 assists.
"It's always good to beat our cross-town rival, and it's our second victory over them this year," Tulsa Head Coach Ed Allen said. "I was pleased with our consistency throughout two-and-a-half sets of the match. Again, we got a terrific, outstanding offensive performance from Tyler Henderson, Jen Eichler, Julia Kenealy, Hannah Stout - those four are hitting very good numbers for us. I'm really pleased with the defensive efforts. We touched a lot of balls, blocked a few balls, and more importantly, dug a bunch of balls. We held them under .100 hitting for the match, which I think is a testament to the defensive effort of our team.
"I think we're progressing," Allen continued. "We feel very good about each of the last seven matches that we've had. We feel like we are building some momentum as a team, and if we continue to execute, we will be in a very favorable place to win another championship.
The Golden Hurricane dominated the match, out-hitting Oral Roberts by more than .200 points and outscoring them by a total of 26 points in the three sets.
Tulsa broke a 2-2 tied in the first set, and ran out to a 14-5 lead to take control of the set. The Golden Hurricane never let ORU get closer than eight points and extended its lead to 12 points at 20-9 and won the set, 25-13.
The Hurricane took a 3-0 lead to begin set two and led the whole way through, as it extended its opening lead to 6-1 and never looked back. Oral Roberts got within two points at 6-4, but Tulsa pulled away to a 10-4 lead, which turned into 18-10, and TU never let the Golden Eagles closer than seven points on its Way to a 25-16 set win.
TU went out to a 3-1 lead in the third set and broke open a narrow 5-4 margin with four straight points and extended its lead to 13-6 mid-way through the set. Tulsa's lead grew to 11 points at 19-8, and it held a 20-11 lead before Oral Roberts scored seven of nine points to pull to within 22-18. The Hurricane, however, kept the Golden Eagles at bay and won the set, 25-20.
The Golden Hurricane returns to the court Friday when continues its home stand against Houston at 7 p.m. TU takes on Rice Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Dig Pink match to support breast cancer research and awareness, which will be televised by CBS College Sports.
"We have two big matches (coming up this weekend), said Allen. "We are getting Houston and Rice back in here after playing them two weeks ago at their place. We're excited about the opportunity to have two quality volleyball teams play each other on national TV. I think it's going to be good for Conference USA, for people to see the quality of play with the teams that are in the top half of the league."
Admission to all TU home volleyball matches is free. For all Tulsa volleyball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane. Become a fan of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane page on Facebook - search "Tulsa Golden Hurricane."
