Wills Captures 100th Career Win Following Sweep at Memphis

Sunday, October 6

Memphis, Tenn.

1:00 pm

Tulsa

10-7

Memphis

11-5

Tulsa

Memphis

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Wills Captures 100th Career Win Following Sweep at Memphis

10/6/2019 4:27:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tulsa volleyball head coach Ryan Wills clinched his 100th career win at TU on Sunday, as the Golden Hurricane traveled to Memphis and swept the Tigers [25-14, 25-23, 25-19] at Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

With the win, Golden Hurricane (10-7, 3-1 The American) handed the Tigers (11-5, 0-5) their first sweep of the season. For Memphis, it was their fifth consecutive loss and their first American Athletic Conference match that didn't go five sets this season.

"I'm really proud of how we showed up to play today," said Wills. "We were absolutely ready to compete. We have a lot of experienced players that have their heart in the right place. Without them, we wouldn't be able to come out and play the way we did. Offensively, this was one of our better matches in a while. Defensively, we were able to execute our game plan."

The Golden Hurricane were in control of the opening set, as they started the contest on a 4-0 run. They followed that up with scoring runs of 6-1, 7-3, and another 4-0 stretch. Tulsa never trailed in the first set. The Tigers were held to a .077 attacking percentage for seven attacks on 26 swings with five errors.

Memphis made the second set a difficult task for Tulsa. Trailing 4-1, the Golden Hurricane scored six of eight points for their first lead in the set at 7-6. Kayley Cassaday, Lily Heyne, and Maddie Rhoder, each tallied a kill during the run, while Dilara Gedikoglu and Maggie Hembree stopped a Hannah Flowers attack. Rhoder went a perfect 4-for-4 on her swings in the set.

TU later overcame its largest deficit of the set. The Golden Hurricane erased a four-point deficit using a 5-2 run that would force a tie at 19-19. A pair of Rhoder kills would then be the start of Tulsa scoring five of the final six points in the set for a 2-0 match lead.

The Golden Hurricane had their best offensive set of the contest in the third game. Tulsa connected on 15 attacks of their 27 attempts, while committing one error on a .519 attacking clip. Trailing 9-6, the Golden Hurricane regained the advantage thanks to a 15-5 run. Gedikoglu and Hembree combined for nine kills and one error on 13 attacks in the set.

Tulsa ended the match with their second-highest attacking percentage of the season at .343. The Golden Hurricane recorded 45 kills and 11 errors on 99 attacks. Memphis attempted 93 swings, connecting on 31 with 17 attack errors for a .151 attacking clip.

Tulsa held the advantage in assists, 41-27, in digs, 42-36, service aces, 7-5, and total blocks, 6-3.

Rhoder finished the contest with a .833 attacking percentage, which ties the individual match record set by Juliet Klemm in 1996. The senior led all players with 10 kills on 12 swings. Her 10 kills also tie her career-high set on Friday at SMU.

Hembree connected on half of her attacks (8-of-16) and registered one block (two block assists).

Taylor Horsfall chipped in a game-high 17 digs, to go with a pair of service aces. Maddie Flora also tallied two service aces.

Roosa Rautio led Tulsa with 20 assists, followed by Mariah Pardo with 13.

Callie Cook finished with 2.5 blocks (one solo block, three block assists).

Tulsa begins a four-game homestand on Friday, Oct. 11 when the Golden Hurricane takes the court against Tulane (13-4, 3-1) at 7:00 p.m.