Tulsa Captures First American Victory of Season vs. Wichita State, 3-2

Friday, September 27

Reynolds Center

7:00 pm

Tulsa

8-6

Wichita State

3-10

Wichita St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Captures First American Victory of Season vs. Wichita State, 3-2

9/27/2019 11:39:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score
TULSA, Okla. - For the second time this season, the Tulsa volleyball team played in and captured a five-set victory, this time over Wichita State in Friday's American Athletic Conference opener 3-2 [25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 17-25, 15-10] at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. With the win, the Golden Hurricane start American play at 1-0.

"Once you start conference play, it's a new season," said head coach Ryan Wills. "We battle-tested ourselves coming into it. I'm really proud of how we responded after last weekend. I think that's a huge piece of growth for this team. I'm excited about how we bounced back in this crazy match. It was a roller-coaster. It was up and down. It's a little bit of how our team plays" … "We had some people step up in huge ways in different offensive aspects in order for us to win."

The Golden Hurricane (8-6, 1-0 AAC) and Shockers (3-9, 0-1 AAC) combined for 18 ties and five lead changes throughout the match. Tulsa never trailed in either the first or fifth sets.

Leading 9-9 in the opening game, the Golden Hurricane used a 7-3 run to take a 17-12 advantage. Maddie Rhoder, Dilara Gedikoglu, Kayley Cassaday, Maggie Hembree, and Callie Cook each tallied a kill during the run. Mariah Pardo assisted on four hits, while Taylor Horsfall and Roosa Rautio each registered an assist, respectively.

Tulsa regained the lead in the third set, thanks to six unanswered points for a 17-9 advantage. Gedikoglu and Rhoder connected on an attack, while Horsfall tallied one of her two service aces.

After Wichita State forced a fifth set, the momentum never left Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane led by as much as six-points at 9-3.

Tulsa finished with 59 kills and 185 swings to 34 errors for a .135 attacking percentage. Wichita State connected for 58 kills on 183 total attacks with 24 errors with a .186 attacking clip.

The Golden Hurricane held an 89-82 advantage in digs. Wichita State edged Tulsa in assists (56-24), blocks (11-8), and service aces (5-2).

Five Golden Hurricane eclipsed double figures. Horsfall moved into the record books with 38 digs in the win. She entered the contest holding three match records for digs. The 38 is the most by a Golden Hurricane since she chipped in 39 digs in Tulsa's first of two meetings against North Texas a year ago.

Rauto ended with a double-double, finishing with 20 assists and 14 digs. Pardo came up one dig shy of a double-double. She led TU with 25 assists, to go with nine digs.

Gedikoglu finished with a game-high 18 kills and nine digs.

Cassaday also tallied double-figure kills. She had 10 kills on 18 attacks while committing three errors. The freshman outside hitter connected on all six of her swings in the fourth set.

Hembree and Rhoder each tallied five block assists, respectively.

The Golden Hurricane return to action against ECU (12-2, 0-1 AAC) on Sunday, Sept. 29. The match is slated to start at 12 noon.