Tulsa
McNeese State
Volleyball Sweeps McNeese State in Golden Hurricane Classic Finale
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2014
Box Score | Box Score 
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Tulsa volleyball team swept McNeese State (25-18, 25-13, 26-24), as Erica Bohannon finished with a match-high 11 kills, while Valerie El Houssine notched another double-double (10 kills, 14 digs) and Brooke Berryhill added 24 digs to lead the Hurricane to a perfect weekend at the Golden Hurricane Classic.Berryhill and El Houssine were named the Hurricane Classic Co-MVP, while Erica Bohannon notched another All-Tournament Team award to the season.
"It was great to be at home and get two matches under our belt at home, and win a tournament," said head coach Ryan Wills. "It's a good start. To win in three against a team that has won nine matches this year, that's a good thing for us."
The match was all TU, who held its opponent's hitting percentage to just .075. The Hurricane were very strong defensively, racking up 62 digs on the night.
Tulsa used the home court advantage to jump out to a fast start for the second night in a row, taking an early 9-3 lead. The Hurricane would keep the pressure on, as El Houssine and Bohannon would help give TU a 16-10 lead, recording two kills each in that span. TU would take its biggest lead of the set, 20-12, thanks to three MSU errors, before Bohannon finished off the set on a kill that was set up by one Bailey Clampitt's 30 assists on the night.
The second frame proved to be one of the most lopsided sets of the season in favor of TU. The Hurricane raced out to an early 15-5 advantage, forcing the visitors to use both of its timeouts. MSU would only get within seven the rest of the frame, as the Hurricane handily took the first set. Tulsa forced its opponents to a mere -.091 hitting percentage in the frame.
"The first two sets, we were rolling pretty well," said Wills. "We were serving and passing well. Our serve-receive was as good as we've had it all year, and that's why we were able to wins those first two sets pretty handily."
The final stanza looked to follow a similar trend, when TU ran out to a 15-9 lead, forcing the MSU to call a timeout. It looked to be another quick set with the score 24-20 in favor of the Hurricane, however, McNeese State rallied off four-straight points to even up the match. TU would not allow the visitors anymore as Bohannon and El Houssine ran off two-straight kills to give the Hurricane its first home sweep of the year.
Tulsa concludes its preseason tournaments and will now open up conference play next weekend against USF and UCF at the Reynolds Center.
"I feel like we've improved over the course of the preseason tournaments," said Wills. "We went through a little adversity, we came out on the other side, we've gotten better, and that's the one thing we asked of them. Now we've put ourselves in position where it's time to go compete for 20 matches in conference, and we're excited about that opportunity on Friday."
For all Tulsa volleyball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. Follow Tulsa Volleyball on Twitter (http://twitter.com/TulsaVolleyball) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/TulsaVolleyball).
