Volleyball Closes Regular Season against SMU
11/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 11, 2009
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Tulsa volleyball team closes the regular season this weekend with a home-and-home Conference USA series against SMU, playing Thursday at 7 p.m. in Tulsa and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Dallas.
Thursday is senior night, and the Golden Hurricane will honor seniors Jennifer Eichler and Julia Kenealy in a ceremony before the match. Live stats via Gametracker will be available for both matches, and live video for the home match via Hurricane Vision, will be available at www.TulsaHurricane.com.
Tulsa (22-6, 11-3 C-USA) and SMU (19-9, 9-5 C-USA) are both trying to lock up seeds for the C-USA Championship on Nov. 20-22 in Houston. Tulsa, it appears will finish second or third and receive the respective seeding, while SMU can be seeded fourth or fifth in the eight-team tournament.
Tulsa, is hitting .272 as a team (1470 kills-487 errors-3613 attempts), with 1,470 kills (14.27 k/set), 1,366 assists (13.26 a/s), 113 service aces, 1,636 digs (15.88 dig/s) and 214.0 total blocks (2.08 per set). SMU enters the weekend hitting .206 (1406-561-4106) with 1,406 kills (12.78 k/s), 1,281 assists (11.65 a/s), 132 service aces, 1,830 digs (16.64 dig/s) and 276.5 total blocks (2.51 b/s).
Tulsa is led by the on the outside by freshman Tyler Henderson, who has 453 kills (4.44 k/s), hits .288, has 38.0 blocks and has scored 476.5 points. She ranks 19th in the nation in kills per set and 33rd in points per set. Senior Jennifer Eichler, has 390 kills (3.79 kills per set), a .296 attack percentage, 243 digs, 73 total blocks and 444.0 points for the Hurricane.
At middle blocker, junior Hannah Stout hits .422 with, which is the fifth-best hitting percentage in the NCAA, and has 265 kills and 82 blocks, while senior Julia Kenealy is hitting .310 with 151 kills, and leads the team with 108 total blocks (1.07 per set).
Freshman libero Jessica Adams leads the Hurricane with 521 digs and has 16 service aces. Her 5.06 digs per set ranks 25th in the country. Setters Rachel Vukson and Jordan Clampitt have 675 (6.55 a/s) and 568 assists (5.51 a/s), respectively, and Clampitt adds 172 digs.
SMU is led by Dana Powell, who has 404 kills (3.81 k/s), 12 service aces, 329 digs and 45 blocks, and Kendra Kahanek who has 280 kills, and leads the team with 134 blocks. Kelli Becerra leads the Mustangs with 1,150 assists (10.45 a/s), while Sidney Stewart paces SMU with 504 digs (4.58 dig/s).
Tulsa and SMU have played 27 times; SMU leads the series, 17-10. The series dates to 1996 when Tulsa joined the WAC. The Golden Hurricane is 7-2 against the Mustangs since the teams moved to C-USA in 2005. Last season, the two teams split the series, with each team winning on the road. SMU's win last season was its first in the series since 2005, as Tulsa had won seven in a row against the Mustangs. TU is 5-8 against SMU in Tulsa and 4-9 against SMU in Dallas.
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."
