Tulsa
Louisiana-Monroe
Tulsa Volleyball Perfect on Day One of Sugar Bear Classic
9/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2014
Stats
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Tulsa volleyball team opened up the Sugar Bear Classic by winning both matches on Friday, first against Boise State, 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14), and then sweeping Louisiana-Monroe (25-15, 25-15, 25-9), improving to 4-1 in the young season.
Sophomore Erica Bohannon led all Hurricane with 26 kills in the two matches, while senior Bailey Clampitt picked up 74 assists on the day, including a season-high 46-assist performance in the early match against the Broncos.
Nicole Newton recorded 14 kills, seven in each match, to go along with her 12 blocks, while Valerie El Houssine finished day one with a combined 22 kills and 26 digs. Junior Ashley Hooper tallied 11 kills, including a season-high seven kills against BSU.
TU's opening match was tightly contested from start to finish, with 29 ties and eight different lead changes, as the Broncos dropped to 1-3 on the season.
After Tulsa fell in the first set, the Hurricane took the second set without trailing throughout. El Houssine led TU in the frame with a set-high five kills.
With the score 11-11 midway through the second stanza, TU went on an 8-2 run, making the deficit too large for a Bronco comeback. El Houssine finished off the set with two of Tulsa's final three kills, to even the match, 1-1.
After BSU took a 2-1 lead in the match, the Hurricane were forced to comeback for the second time in the match. TU led off the set 9-3 thanks to five attack errors from BSU. However, the Broncos were able to battle back to eventually take a brief one-point lead at 18-17. Later in the set, Bohannon gave the Hurricane a 24-21 lead, after recording her third and fourth kills of the stanza. A Bronco service error ended the frame, forcing a fifth and final set.
The final frame stayed tight throughout as the two sides were tied eight times. The Hurricane saw itself down just one time in the set, when BSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead. With the set knotted at 14-14, the Broncos committed two-straight errors to give TU the match.
Bohannon picked up her third double-digit kill match of the season, with 17, to go along with a career-high five total blocks (2/BS, 3/BA). El Houssine recorded her third double-double of the season tallying 17 kills and 16 blocks. Brooke Berryhill recorded her fourth double-digit dig performance of the year, with 11.
Tulsa's second match was not nearly as competitive as the Hurricane won each set by at least 10 points, earning its second sweep of the season.
As a team, Lousiana-Monroe (2-4) finished the match with a -.020 hitting percentage and just one team block. On the other side, of the net, TU hit a season-high .347, including a .440 mark in the third set, to go along with 11 team blocks.
Hooper finished the match with seven kills and a season-high .545 hitting percentage. Bohannon led the Hurricane in the second match with nine kills, while El Houssine finished with a team-high 10 digs.
TU will wrap up the Sugar Bear Classic with a showdown against host school Central Arkansas at 3 p.m tomorrow.
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).
