Tulsa Snaps Samford's Six-Game Winning Streak on Day One of WKU Volleyball Invitational

Friday, September 20

Bowling Green, Ky.

1:00 pm

Tulsa

7-4

Samford

6-3

Samford

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Snaps Samford's Six-Game Winning Streak on Day One of WKU Volleyball Invitational

9/20/2019 8:41:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Tulsa volleyball team snapped Samford, the reigning Southern Conference champions on Friday at WKU Volleyball Invitational at the E.A. Diddle Arena. The Golden Hurricane (7-5) defeated Samford (6-3) in four sets [27-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-16], before suffering a 3-0 defeat to host Western Kentucky [16-25, 15-25, 13-25]. The Lady Toppers (12-1) entered the match being among teams "also receiving votes" in the AVCA Division I Top 25 Poll.

Tulsa's first match vs. the Bulldogs was the first meeting between the two programs in program history. The Golden Hurricane and the Lady Toppers met for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 1991. The series is now tied at 2-2.

The Golden Hurricane will play their final contest of its non-conference schedule on Saturday, Sept. 21 vs. Northern Kentucky (5-5) at 3:00 p.m. Saturday's match will be the first time the two teams have played each other.

Box Score
Game 1: Tulsa 3, Samford 1
Tulsa trailed for nearly all of the first set, but an 8-2 Golden Hurricane run proved to be the difference.

Trailing 23-19, Roosa Rautio set up Maddie Rhoder and Maggie Hembree for back-to-back kills, respectively. Errors by both teams then forced a 24-24 tie. Following another Samford attacking error, Hembree tallied her second kill of the scoring run off a Mariah Pardo assist. Hembree and Kayley Cassaday combined for a block to end the first set up 1-0.

The Golden Hurricane once again found themselves trailing midway through the second game. Down by five points at 12-7, Tulsa called timeout. It would be the lone timeout TU took in the set, as the Golden Hurricane resumed play with an 8-0 run. That included 14 of the proceeding 15 points for a 21-14 advantage.

Callie Cook tallied four of her five second-set kills during the stretch, to go with a block assist. Rhoder recorded three kills and a block assist. Hembree and Dilara Gedikoglu added a point and a block assist apiece. Taylor Horsfall registered a kill and an assist. Rautio and Pardo totaled four and two assists, respectively.

The first two sets combined for 14 ties and eight lead changes.

Samford mounted its comeback in the third set. Tulsa never held the advantage but forced four ties early on. The Golden Hurricane would rally late, as a 7-1 run cut the deficit to 24-23.

The momentum shifted Tulsa's way in the fourth set. Following a 5-5 tie, the Golden Hurricane held the advantage the rest of the way. A 9-2 run gave Tulsa the upperhand at 13-7. The closest the Bulldogs got was within four points at 14-10.

Tulsa had its best offensive performance of the season. The Golden Hurricane finished with a .353 attacking clip, totaling 61 kills with 14 errors and 133 total attacks. Tulsa hit above .300 in each set, including a .406 attacking percentage in the second set. The Bulldogs totaled 51 kills and 25 errors on 134 swings for a .194 attacking percentage.

The Golden Hurricane edged the Bulldogs in assists, 53-51, but recorded one fewer dig than Samford, 53-52. Tulsa held an 11-3 block advantage. Both teams had five service aces apiece.

Three Golden Hurricane recorded double-digit kills against Samford. Gedikoglu finished with a team-high 16 kills, including seven in the fourth set. Hembree added 11 on 15 swings. Cook ended with 10 kills and five block assists. She has now tallied at least four block assists in five of the last six contests. Rautio registered 29 assists, and Pardo added 20. Horsfall chipped in a game-high 22 digs.

Box Score
Game 2: Western Kentucky 3, Tulsa 0
Tulsa would capture the first two points of the match, but was then outscored 13-2 by the Lady Toppers. Trailing 13-5, Dilara Gedikolu tallied back-to-back service aces. She recorded her third later in the game, tying her season-high of three from earlier this season at Kansas City.

Western Kentucky held its own the rest of the way, as Tulsa would hold a 1-0 lead in the third set.

Service aces were the story in Tulsa's evening matchup against a hot Western Kentucky who entered the match on a seven-game winning streak. The Golden Hurricane faced one of the service ace leaders in the country in WKU's Sophia Cerino, who leads in the country with 36. She finished the match with seven service aces.

Tulsa registered 24 kills and 13 errors on 76 total attacks for a .145 attacking clip. Western Kentucky finished with .364 attacking percentage, totaling 41 kills and nine errors on 88 swings.

The Lady Toppers had the advantage in assists (38-23), digs (38-25), service aces (12-4), and blocks (5-2).

Callie Cook, Maggie Hembree, Maddie Rhoder, and Gedikoglu each had four kills. Roosa Rautio led TU with 11 assists. Taylor Horsfall added seven digs. The senior libero's double-digit dig streak came to an end at 24 matches.