Tulsa Volleyball Splits First Day at Maverick Classic

Friday, September 3

Arlington, Texas

11:00 AM

Tulsa

0-1,0-0AAC

Sam Houston

5-0,0-0WAC

Tulsa

Sam Houston

VolleyballTeamCelebratiVolleyballTeamCelebrationWSUonWSU

Tulsa Volleyball Splits First Day at Maverick Classic

9/3/2021 9:39:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Sam Houston Game Book UT Arlington Game Book

ARLINGTON, Texas. ― The Tulsa volleyball team split their first two games at the Maverick Classic Friday, dropping the morning match in five sets to Sam Houston before knocking off tournament-host UT Arlington in four sets.

Match 1
After jumping out to a 2-1 match lead, the Tulsa volleyball team dropped Friday's season opener 3-2 to Sam Houston State at the Maverick Classic hosted at UT Arlington.

The Hurricane, who won sets two and three, were led by Bailey Rowe, who in her Tulsa debut, led the team with 16 kills. Kayley Cassaday tallied 15 of her own kills, while Rachel Brown posted eight kills in her first collegiate action.

Defensively, Marta Pecalli had a team-high 26 digs in her Hurricane debut, while Callie Cook added five more blocks to her record-setting career.

Sam Houston won the first set 25-14, in large part to a. 13-3 run that put them up 15-5 to start off the match. Tulsa bounced back in the second match, leading 19-15 at the second timeout. With the second set tied at 24-24, head coach Ryan Wills used a coaches' challenge that was deemed successful, giving Tulsa a 25-24 lead that would turn into a 26-24 second set win for the Hurricane to tie the match at one.

In the third set, Tulsa showed resilience, battling back from a 12-4 deficit to take their first lead of the third set at 22-20. The Bearkats would respond with a 3-0 run out of the timeout, but Tulsa matched it, going on their own 3-0 run, including a Maggie Hembree kill to claim a 25-23 third set win and a 2-1 match lead.

Sam Houston would take control in the fourth set 25-16, leading for the full fourth set to push the match to a winner-take-all fifth set where the Bearkats would pick up their fifth win of the season 15-8.

Match 2
Double-doubles from Kayley Cassaday and Roosa Rautio paced the Hurricane Friday night in Arlington, as Cassaday tallied her first double-double of the season with 15 digs and 15 kills while Rautio assisted 40 Tulsa kills while notching 13 kills, both leading the Hurricane to their first win of the 2021 season 3-1 over UT Arlington. Tulsa moves to 1-1 on the year while UT Arlington drops to 0-4.

The middle blocker duo of Maggie Hembree and Callie Cook recorded nine kills apiece, while Kylie Trefflich and Bailey Rowe came off the bench with seven kills each.

Defensively, Marta Pecalli tallied 21 digs while Maddie Flora chipped in 15 herself.

The Hurricane trailed at the start of all four sets, but bounced back, especially in the first two sets. Tulsa overcame two set points in the opening set at 24-22 and 24-23 to eventually win the pivotal set 27-25.

Tulsa used a 10-1 run to take a 19-11 lead that would be just enough cushion to win 25-20.

UT Arlington would control the third set, winning it 25-19. Both Monica LaFluer and Devon Martinka recorded double-digit kills for the Mavericks.

After being in a 5-0 deficit and 14-9 deficit, the Hurricane stormed back, taking a 20-16 lead that would force a UT Arlington timeout. With the score tied at 22, Tulsa closed out the match on a 3-0 spurt, as Maggie Hembree clinched the first win of the season with her 9^th kill of the contest.

Tulsa will take on North Texas tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. in their final game at the Maverick Classic.