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Tulsa
SMU
Volleyball Sweeps SMU, 3-0, on Senior Night
11/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2009
Box Score |
Box Score 
TULSA, Okla. - The seniors came up big for Tulsa on Thursday, as Jennifer Eichler recorded 13 kills and hit .308, Julia Kenealy had eight kills and hit .438 to lead The University of Tulsa volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-23, 25-15) over Conference USA rival SMU Thursday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The Golden Hurricane (23-6, 12-3 C-USA) sent off its seniors in style, finishing with a perfect 9-0 record in home conference matches. It was the first perfect home conference record since 2006
The Hurricane and Mustangs will battle again Saturday at 7 p.m. in Dallas. TU hit .327 as a team (49-12-113) with 49 kills, 47 assists, 47 digs and three blocks. Tulsa also earned sideouts at a 71 percent rate. SMU, which fell to 19-10 overall and 9-6 in C-USA, hit .182 in the match (38-18-110) with 38 kills, 38 assists, 48 digs and five blocks.
Freshman Tyler Henderson tallied 15 kills and hit .368 in the match. Freshman Jessica Adams led the Hurricane with 17 digs, and Eichler added nine digs. Sophomore Rachel Vukson recorded 25 assists, while freshman Jordan Clampitt added 15 assists.
"It's just a great way to send out the two seniors who have had a magnificent two and a half years with us," Tulsa Head Coach Ed Allen said. "They both played extremely well. I think the team effort was outstanding. We could have played a little better defensively, but we got another strong offensive performance hitting over .300 in the match. It was great to get a win like that, where I think for the most part played offensively as well as we could've played. We played together. We executed throughout the course of the match. It was just a great feeling for those two kids.
"It was a balanced performance from four solid attackers," Allen continued. "That's been the story of the season. It's been just a magnificent run here at home. We went from struggling to play at home last year to being undefeated in conference play, running off nine straight conference matches. We're looking forward to the future and getting a chance to build on that number as we move through next year as well."
Tulsa had the lead almost the whole way through the first set, save for two ties in early-middle portion. The Golden Hurricane started with a 5-1 lead that it held until SMU crept back to tie the score at 11-11. With a 12-12 tie on the board, the Hurricane scored four straight points, and extended its lead to seven at 23-16, going on to a 25-20 set win.
Set two was close the whole way, with 12 ties and five lead changes, including a 23-23 knot before Tulsa won the set with kills by Henderson and Eichler. After trading points at the beginning of the frame, the Golden Hurricane took a 10-9 lead and never fell behind again in the set. The largest lead for either team was three points, which TU held on two separate occasions.
Coming out of the intermission, the third set began much like the second, with a back-and-forth one-point battle. However, with the score knotted at seven apiece, Tulsa went on an 18-8 run to finish the set and finish off SMU, 25-15. The Golden Hurricane used an initial 3-0 sprint, and then spurred runs of 5-0 and 4-0 to take a 19-10 lead, cruising to the victory.
"We've got a tough match at SMU on Saturday," said Allen. "They're obviously a much different team at home, and have been in the four years that I've been here. They are a team that's had a good year. They've been up and down over the course of the year, but they are a talented team. We're looking forward to that matchup, as we think it will best prepare us for the conference tournament next week."
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."
