Friday, September 30
Houston, Texas
7:00 p.m.
Tulsa
13-2, 2-1American
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Houston
5-9, 0-3American
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Tulsa
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Houston
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Tulsa Volleyball Defeats Houston in Five Sets in First Conference Road Match
9/30/2016 9:53:00 PM | Volleyball
HOUSTON, Texas – The University of Tulsa Volleyball team earned a five-set win on the road at Houston on Friday evening, rallying to win the final two sets while outscoring the Cougars by 15 over the final two frames. Senior outside hitter Trinity Alualu led the Hurricane (13-2 overall, 2-1 AAC) with 16 kills on an evening in which she committed zero attacking errors while hitting a blistering .432.
"Trinity played an inspired match, the best I've ever seen her play," said TU Head Coach Ryan Wills. "She did it in a big moment for us when we needed her and she came through in a huge way."
Tulsa found themselves behind early in a 25-16 first set loss in which TU out-hit Houston .281 to .257 . The Cougars opened the match on a 5-0 run before Erica Bohannon stopped the run with her first of 15 kills on the evening. Haley Coulter brought Tulsa within four at 8-4 before three straight Houston points stretched their lead to seven. Rachel Moore helped bring the Hurricane back to within four at 18-14 before Houston went on to score seven of the next nine points of the set.
The Hurricane turned it around in the second set, scoring five straight off of two Alualu kills and three Cougar attacking errors to grab a 9-3 advantage. Alualu came up big for TU again later in the set, halting a 4-0 Houston run that saw them cut the lead down to two at 10-8. Back-to-back Bohannon kills extended the TU lead to four late in the set before two Brooke Berryhill service aces helped secure a 25-18 win to even the match.
After falling behind 5-2 in a third set that saw six ties and two lead changes early, Tulsa strung together five straight points to force a Houston timeout, taking a 7-5 lead. Alualu later tied things up for the final time in the set at 10-10 before the Cougars scored four of the next five to go ahead by three. Houston extended their lead to a set-high six points after a Hunter Wise kill, 21-15, before taking the set 25-18.
In an almost identical fourth set in Tulsa's favor, TU scored three straight to force a timeout with a 14-11 lead in a set in which the sixth and final tie came at 10-10. A Bohannon attacking error brought Houston within one before the senior responded with a kill to push the lead back up to two at 16-14. After another Cougar timeout, Alualu recorded back-to-back kills to bring the score to 22-16 while Emily Thorson closed out the 25-18 win.
Tulsa dominated the second half of the match-deciding fifth set, outscoring Houston 9-1 in the 15-7 win. Moore started a 7-0 Hurricane run with a kill before pitching in two service aces to go ahead 12-5. Two straight Cougar attacking errors extended the TU lead to nine before Thorson recorded another set-sealing kill after two consecutive Houston points.
"We played great in the fifth set," said Wills. "We served the ball extremely well. Rachel Moore went back and rattled off seven points in a row. We just put pressure on them from the service line. Trinity was attacking well like she did all game and we executed at a high level in that set."
Rebecca Reeve recorded a double-double on the evening, tallying 11 kills and 13 digs. Brooke Berryhill led the Hurricane defensively with a tied-for match-high 21 digs, holding Houston to a .168 hitting-percentage while Ashton Anderson and Taylor Horsfall added double-digit digs for a TU squad that totaled 85 on the night.
"We didn't play our best match without a doubt but we were tough," said Wills. "We fought, we kept finding a way and kept grinding. We served the ball well and put ourselves in a good spot to win each set. I thought Trinity and Brooke stepped up both played awesome."
Tulsa will continue American Athletic Conference road play on Sunday when they face-off against Tulane at 1 p.m. in New Orleans, La.
PDF Box Score
"Trinity played an inspired match, the best I've ever seen her play," said TU Head Coach Ryan Wills. "She did it in a big moment for us when we needed her and she came through in a huge way."
Tulsa found themselves behind early in a 25-16 first set loss in which TU out-hit Houston .281 to .257 . The Cougars opened the match on a 5-0 run before Erica Bohannon stopped the run with her first of 15 kills on the evening. Haley Coulter brought Tulsa within four at 8-4 before three straight Houston points stretched their lead to seven. Rachel Moore helped bring the Hurricane back to within four at 18-14 before Houston went on to score seven of the next nine points of the set.
The Hurricane turned it around in the second set, scoring five straight off of two Alualu kills and three Cougar attacking errors to grab a 9-3 advantage. Alualu came up big for TU again later in the set, halting a 4-0 Houston run that saw them cut the lead down to two at 10-8. Back-to-back Bohannon kills extended the TU lead to four late in the set before two Brooke Berryhill service aces helped secure a 25-18 win to even the match.
After falling behind 5-2 in a third set that saw six ties and two lead changes early, Tulsa strung together five straight points to force a Houston timeout, taking a 7-5 lead. Alualu later tied things up for the final time in the set at 10-10 before the Cougars scored four of the next five to go ahead by three. Houston extended their lead to a set-high six points after a Hunter Wise kill, 21-15, before taking the set 25-18.
In an almost identical fourth set in Tulsa's favor, TU scored three straight to force a timeout with a 14-11 lead in a set in which the sixth and final tie came at 10-10. A Bohannon attacking error brought Houston within one before the senior responded with a kill to push the lead back up to two at 16-14. After another Cougar timeout, Alualu recorded back-to-back kills to bring the score to 22-16 while Emily Thorson closed out the 25-18 win.
Tulsa dominated the second half of the match-deciding fifth set, outscoring Houston 9-1 in the 15-7 win. Moore started a 7-0 Hurricane run with a kill before pitching in two service aces to go ahead 12-5. Two straight Cougar attacking errors extended the TU lead to nine before Thorson recorded another set-sealing kill after two consecutive Houston points.
"We played great in the fifth set," said Wills. "We served the ball extremely well. Rachel Moore went back and rattled off seven points in a row. We just put pressure on them from the service line. Trinity was attacking well like she did all game and we executed at a high level in that set."
Rebecca Reeve recorded a double-double on the evening, tallying 11 kills and 13 digs. Brooke Berryhill led the Hurricane defensively with a tied-for match-high 21 digs, holding Houston to a .168 hitting-percentage while Ashton Anderson and Taylor Horsfall added double-digit digs for a TU squad that totaled 85 on the night.
"We didn't play our best match without a doubt but we were tough," said Wills. "We fought, we kept finding a way and kept grinding. We served the ball well and put ourselves in a good spot to win each set. I thought Trinity and Brooke stepped up both played awesome."
Tulsa will continue American Athletic Conference road play on Sunday when they face-off against Tulane at 1 p.m. in New Orleans, La.
PDF Box Score
Team Stats
TLS
HOU
Kills
56
51
Errors
24
23
Attempts
172
167
Hitting %
.186
.168
Points
72.0
67.0
Assists
54
49
Aces
8
7
Blocks
8.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
11
Aces
2
Blocks
2
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
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