Tulsa Volleyball Opens Season Thursday

GAME #1

Tulsa Golden Hurricane (0-0, 0-0) vs. Wichita State Shockers (5-0, 0-0)

Date/Time: Thursday - Feb. 11, 2021 - 2:00 p.m. (CT) - ESPN+

Site: Reynolds Center (8,355) - Tulsa, Okla.

2019 in Review

In his sixth season atop the helm, Tulsa volleyball head coach Ryan Wills led the Golden Hurricane to a spot in the inaugural American Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Championship and the semifinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC).
The Hurricane finished the 2019 season at 18-16 overall and 8-8 in The American. In conference play, they held the sixth-best record, earning the final bid to the conference tournament. Tulsa would fall to UCF, the No. 3 seed and eventual conference champions, in four sets in Orlando, Florida.
Tulsa opened the NIVC with a four-set win over UC Davis in Long Beach, Calif. The win marked the program's first postseason win in a national tournament since 2012. The Hurricane followed up with a win over Santa Clara in the second round, making the 2019 team the first squad in program history to win multiple postseason contests in a single tournament.
After defeating Weber State in a five-set quarterfinal thriller at Donald W. Reynolds Center, Tulsa became the second consecutive team from The American to earn a spot in the NIVC Semifinals (Tulane '18). The season would end at South Dakota, as the Hurricane suffered a four-set loss in the team's second matchup of the year.
Senior defensive specialist/libero Taylor Horsfall broke the TU school record for career digs in the final home contest of the season vs. Weber State. Horsfall ended her career with 2,489 digs. The Houston, Texas native also finished the year as the Division I leader in total digs with 805. She became the third DI player since 2011 to tally 800+ digs in a single campaign.
Junior middle blocker Callie Cook set a new single-season record for block assists vs. Weber State. She ultimately finished the season with 128 block assists.

All-Conference Award Winners

Taylor Horsfall was named the American Athletic Conference's Libero of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Dilara Gedikoglu became the second Hurricane to ever win Freshman of the Year.
The two were each named first team all-conference. For Horsfall, it marked her third all-conference selection and the second time earning first team honors.

Cooking Up the Competition

Upperclassmen Callie Cook brings intensity for the Hurricane on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
Cook is currently 3rd all-time in career blocks at TU with 384 ... she needs only 16 blocks to pass Hannah Stout's (2007-10) record of 399 blocks.
Cook also sits second all-time in block assists with 327 in her career ... she needs 22 block assists to pass Stout who is the career leader for the Hurricane with 348.
Cook has a career total of 790 kills putting her 210 away from reaching the 1,000 kill career mark.

Hembree Patroling the Middle

Senior Maggie Hembree returns to the starting lineup for the Hurricane after recording 211 kills and 130 blocks in 2019.
The 6'4" middle blocker is the tallest player for the Hurricane ... she uses her length to her advantage accounting for 297 points with 211 kills, 130 total blocks and 8 aces last season.

100 Career Wins!

Ryan Wills became the fourth head coach and the third-fastest to win 100 career matches at Tulsa. The Tulsa native cracked the century mark on October 6, 2019 as the Golden Hurricane defeated Memphis in straight sets.

Passing Frenzy

Setter Roosa Rautio begins her second season as the leading passer for the Hurricane after transferring from North Dakota.
Last season, Rautio led the Hurricane with 738 assists while splitting time with Mariah Pardo as the TU setter.
The junior begins the season poised to lead the Hurricane and continue to improve on her 7.84 assists per set ratio in 2021.

Ready. Set. New Season

The Hurricane is coming off of a semifinal appearance in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship in 2019 ... TU finished sixth in the American Athletic Conference and 4th in the west trailing SMU, Tulane and Houston.
This season, Tulsa was selected in the Preseason Coach's Poll to finish 5th in the west ... in the six seasons with the Hurricane, Coach Wills has won 15 or more games each season and has led TU to back-to-back post-season tournaments.

Welcoming New Faces

Of the 12 Hurricane players this season, Tulsa has 4 new faces on the roster ... of the new girls three are true freshmen and one transfer who came in the spring of 2020.
Kylie Trefflich is an outside hitter from New Braunfels, Texas ... she came to the Hurricane from Texas Tech where she appeared in 21 sets accumulating 38 kills and 5 blocks ... at Canyon High School, she recorded 1,001 kills, 495 digs and 119 blocks in four seasons.
Setter Avery Kalsu along with middle blockers Justyus Jackson and Regan Pendleton join the Hurricane as true freshmen ... Kalsu played high school ball at Dripping Springs HS (Texas) where she racked up 3,115 assists and 1,508 digs in four years ... Jackson, from Davenport, Iowa, was a second-team all-metro selection as a junior ... Pendleton recorded 1,383 kills and 250 blocks while playing four seasons for Edmond Memorial HS (Okla.).

Tulsa Volleyball Opens Season Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Callie Cook

Dilara Gedikoglu

Maggie Hembree

Taylor Horsfall

Justyus Jackson

Avery Kalsu

Mariah Pardo

Regan Pendleton

Roosa Rautio

Kylie Trefflich

Tulsa Volleyball Opens Season Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Callie Cook

Dilara Gedikoglu

Maggie Hembree

Taylor Horsfall

Justyus Jackson

Avery Kalsu

Mariah Pardo

Regan Pendleton

Roosa Rautio

Kylie Trefflich

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