Tulsa Inches Closer to American Tournament Berth with Four-Set Win over Memphis

Friday, November 8

Reynolds Center

12:00 pm

Tulsa

15-11,8-5AAC

Memphis

15-10,4-9AAC

Memphis

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Inches Closer to American Tournament Berth with Four-Set Win over Memphis

11/8/2019 4:25:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Update: The Golden Hurricane clinched a spot in the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday night following SMU's four-set win at Wichita State (25-23, 26-28, 25-18, 31-29).

Box Score (PDF)
TULSA, Okla. - The Tulsa volleyball team inched one step closer to a spot in the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday with a four-set win over Memphis [25-19, 25-27, 25-22, 25-21]. With the win, the Golden Hurricane (15-11, 8-5 The American) improve to 17-12 all-time against the Tigers (15-10, 4-9).

The two teams combined for 28 ties and 11 lead changes. In the second and third sets alone, Tulsa and Memphis registered a combined 25 ties and 10 lead changes.

Memphis took an early 2-0 lead in the first set, but Tulsa rebounded and never trailed again in the game. The Tigers would trim the Golden Hurricane advantage to one point at 19-18, but TU scored four straight for a 23-18 lead. Callie Cook and Hannah Overmyer combined for a block. Cook then recorded a kill, and Roosa Rautio ended the run with a service ace.

Tulsa led by as much as five points on four occasions in the second set. The Tigers clawed their way back with a 5-0 run, forcing a tie at 17-17. Neither team led by more than one point, until Memphis ended the set scoring three consecutive points, and tied the match at 1-1.

In the third set, the Golden Hurricane trailed by as much as three points four times. Trailing 19-16, Tulsa shifted the momentum its way with a 7-1 run. Dilara Gedikoglu started the scoring drive with back-to-back kills. Maggie Hembree recorded a solo block, and Taylor Horsfall tallied a service ace. That put TU on top, 20-19. Following a Memphis timeout, Gedikoglu registered her third kill of the run. She then teamed up with Hembree for a block. A couple of Tiger errors during the run helped Tulsa go up by four points at 24-20.

Tulsa never trailed in the fourth set, holding a five-point advantage on three occasions. Memphis would cut the TU advantage to two at 22-20 and 23-21. However, a Memphis attacking error and a Maddie Rhoder solo block clinched the win for the Golden Hurricane.

The Golden Hurricane finished with a .216 hitting percentage. They totaled 59 kills on 167 total swings with 23 attacking errors. The Tigers were held to a .112 attacking clip with 52 kills on 179 total attacks, while committing 32 attacking errors.

Tulsa held the advantage in assists (55-46), digs (83-74), and total blocks (14-9). Memphis had four service aces to two for TU.

Gedikoglu finished with her fifth consecutive double-double and her 13th of the season. She had a season-high 26 kills and 10 digs.

Cook finished with a .519 hitting percentage. She added 15 kills on 27 swings with one attacking error. The junior middle blocker also had 2.5 blocks (five block assists) and three digs.

Horsfall recorded her second consecutive and sixth 30+ dig match of the season, finishing with 36 digs.

Rautio tallied 30 assists for her fourth 30+ assists match of the season. Mariah Pardo came off the bench and added 20 dimes and nine digs.

Hembree ended with a career-high four solo blocks, to go with four block assists (six total blocks). Kayley Cassaday had 2.5 blocks (four block assists), while Rhoder had two total blocks (one solo, three block assists).

The Golden Hurricane will host SMU on Sunday in their final home match of the regular season. They will also honor seniors Taylor Horsfall, Mariah Pardo, and Maddie Rhoder in a pre-game ceremony. Match time is set for 1 p.m.