Golden Hurricane Dominate ECU in Four Set Victory

Sunday, September 29

Reynolds Center

12:00 pm

Tulsa

9-6

ECU

11-4

East Carolina

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Golden Hurricane Dominate ECU in Four Set Victory

9/29/2019 4:36:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score
TULSA, Okla. - The Tulsa volleyball team captured its second win in American Athletic Conference play on Sunday in a crossover match vs. ECU in four sets [28-26, 24-26, 25-27, 25-15] at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane (9-6, 2-0 American) are now one of three teams to start conference play in the western division undefeated, joining Houston and Tulane at 2-0 following the win over the Pirates (12-3, 0-2). TU also improved to 6-3 in four-set matches this season.

"I'm really proud our team," head coach Ryan Wills said. "I'm really proud of the team's results because we focused on certain aspects of our game. We had the ability to accomplish it this weekend." … "We did it differently in both matches in different ways. Some people stepped up. Defensively, we were solid all weekend. Offensively, we were a little up and down, but we finished the weekend really strong."

The opening set was a tug-of-war fight between the two teams. The Pirates lead at 15-12 was the largest of the opening set. Down 25-24, Callie Cook knotted the game at 25 apiece with her fourth kill of the set. That would be the start of a 4-1 Tulsa run for an early 1-0 match lead. Dilara Gedikoglu's kill broke a tie at 26, and Maggie Hembree and Maddie Rhoder combined for a block to win the opening set. The two teams combined for 20 ties and six lead changes in the set alone.

After ECU used a 7-0 run to knot the match at 1-1, the momentum never left TU. The Golden Hurricane led by as much as eight points in the third set.

In the fourth set, the Pirates would cut Tulsa's lead to three points at 13-10. TU would then end the match outscoring ECU 12-5. Hembree tallied four of her seven kills in the set during that stretch. Gedikoglu had three kills, including two service aces. Kayley Cassaday and Lily Heyne each had a kill during the run.

Tulsa ended the match with 56 kills on 154 attacks with 26 errors for a .195 attacking percentage. ECU was held to 39 kills on 148 swings while committing 24 errors on a .101 attacking clip.

The Golden Hurricane finished with the advantage in assists, 50-36, and in digs, 77-65. They also edged the Pirates in service aces, 4-2, and total blocks, 11-9. Tulsa's 77 digs are the second-most this year (89 vs. Wichita State), but the most in a four-set match this season.

Gedikoglu finished with her seventh double-double of the season, leading all players with 18 kills, to go with 10 digs and a pair of service aces. The freshman outside hitter tallied seven kills in the third set alone.

Hembree tied her career-high of 13 kills, including seven in the fourth set, on a .550 attacking percentage. She also recorded a solo block and three block assists. Cook was the third Golden Hurricane to eclipse double-digit kills, ending with 10. She also had a solo block and six block assists.

Taylor Horsfall chipped in a game-high 31 digs. Roosa Rautio registered a match-best 27 assists and eight digs. Mariah Pardo added 18 assists. Rhoder recorded a career-high eight block assists, doubling her previous total of four.

The Golden Hurricane will travel to Dallas to face SMU on Friday, Oct. 4 at 7:00 p.m.