Tulsa Wins Five-Set Thriller Over Alabama, 3-2

Friday, August 26

Reynolds Center

7:00 p.m.

Tulsa

2-0

Alabama

1-1

Alabama

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Wins Five-Set Thriller Over Alabama, 3-2

8/26/2016 10:25:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Riley Ubben

TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa won a five-set thriller 3-2 (28-30, 29-27, 25-21, 22-25, 17-15) over Alabama at the Hurricane Classic on Friday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Four Hurricane finished the match in double figure kills as senior Erica Bohannon led TU with 22 in the contest.

A back-and-forth first frame set the tone for the match, as both teams battled before TU took their largest lead of the set, 19-16. Senior Rebecca Reeve had two of her 18 kills in succession to give her team a 24-22 lead and a set point before Alabama (1-1) rallied to take the first, 30-28.

"It was back-and-forth, a lot of two point sets," said TU Head Coach Ryan Wills. "I thought both teams were really resilient with some things, energetic, and people were making great plays."

TU rattled off four straight points midway through the second set, taking a 13-10 lead after a Bohannon and Rachel Moore block. Another back-and-forth match ensued before the Hurricane won the set 29-27 to even the match.

Tulsa recorded the largest lead of both teams in the third set as they went up 19-14 after back-to-back kills from Reeve before going on to take the set 25-21.

Alabama jumped out to a 9-4 lead before consecutive kills from freshmen Haley Coulter started a TU rally to knot things up at 10-10. Coulter finished with 11 kills while hitting .391. Another late run from Tulsa tied the match up at 20-20, but TU fell just short, 25-22.

The deciding match kept the theme of the evening as Tulsa earned a 8-7 lead as the teams switched sides in the deciding match. Kills from Reeve and Moore gave TU a two point advantage before a 3-0 Alabama run gave the Crimson Tide a 11-10 lead after a Krystal Rivers. Rivers finished the contest with a game-high 23 kills on 67 attempts.

With the set knotted at 15-15, Reeve gave TU a lead before an attack error from the Tide's Rivers ended the contest with a 17-15 Tulsa set victory.

"I think in the end our serving [made the difference]," said Wills. "Eventually there were a couple of key moments where they couldn't get their middles involved. Once they couldn't quite get the ball to them, it allowed us play defense like we are capable of and in the end we made some big plays in big moments."

Sophomore Ashton Anderson recorded 40 assists while freshman Mariah Pardo added 23. Alabama's Shannon Mikesky led all players with 67 kills.