Tulsa Volleyball to Face Oklahoma on the Road, Hosts South Florida and East Carolina

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa volleyball team has a trio of matches to wrap up the October slate. First, the Golden Hurricane will face the Oklahoma Sooners (7-11, 1-8 Big 12) Tuesday in an in-state, nonconference showdown in Norman. Then, TU will return home to the Donald W. Reynolds Center to host South Florida (13-8, 7-3 AAC) on Friday and East Carolina (18-4, 9-2 AAC) on Sunday.

First serve on Tuesday is at 6 p.m. while Friday's match with the Bulls starts at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday action with the Pirates begins at noon.

All three matches will stream on ESPN+. Fans unable to attend the action in person can watch it live on ESPN+. TU fans can subscribe to ESPN+ to watch select Golden Hurricane volleyball, soccer, softball and basketball games. ESPN+ is offered at $9.99/month or $99.99/year. To subscribe, go to plus.espn.com. Fans will be able to access ESPN+ content only after they have subscribed.

TU and OU reignite a series that spans 36 matches dating back to the Hurricane's inaugural season in 1976. Oklahoma leads the series 34-2 with the last meeting occurring in 2013. Tulsa's last win over the Sooners came in a 3-1 decision in 2011 at USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Losing ten of their last 12 matches has dropped Oklahoma to 12th in the Big 12 standings with a 1-8 conference record and 7-11 overall mark. Last week, the Sooners split matches with Kansas State (11-8, 5-5 Big 12), grabbing their first conference win, 3-2, on Thursday and falling 0-3 on Friday.

Oklahoma setters have found success this season, putting up 12.33 assists per set to rank second among Big 12 teams. Setter Payton Chamberlain leads the way with 10.48 assists per set. The Sooner defense is led by Lydia Burts, who has 77 blocks and averages 1.15 blocks per set.

South Florida sits in second place in The American East Division at 7-3 in league play and 13-8 overall. Last time out, the Bulls suffered a 3-1 loss to North Texas (12-11, 6-4 AAC) at home, accounting for one of two losses in their last seven matches.

The Hurricane leads the series over South Florida 8-4 and has won four of the last five matches against the Bulls.

South Florida has a deadly serve, leading the league with 143 total service aces at 1.86 aces per set. Additionally, the Bulls are third for assists per set (12.48), fourth in hitting percentage (.243) and kills per set (13.19) and fifth in team assists (961).

Outside hitter Buze Hazan has been making noise for the Bulls. She ranks second in the conference for kills (295), kills per set (3.93), points (338.5) and points per set (4.51).

East Carolina comes to town on Sunday for the 26^th meeting in a series that Tulsa owns 23-3. The Hurricane has won seven of the previous eight matchups.

The Pirates sit atop The American East Division with a 9-2 mark in conference matches and an 18-4 overall record. Last week, they grabbed consecutive wins over Memphis (8-15, 4-7 AAC) at home, dropping only one set along the way. East Carolina has been victorious in nine of their last ten outings.

ECU's front row has been consistent through the season, averaging 2.46 blocks per set, the second-highest mark in the league. They also have the second-best hitting percentage in the AAC at .244.

Middle blocker Carlia Northcross is the conference leader in blocks per set (1.21) and total blocks (93) while outside hitter Angeles Alderete leads the ECU attackers with 3.03 kills per set.

Graduate student Kayley Cassaday remains one of the top outside hitters in the nation, ranking second in kills (408), kills per set (5.10), attacks (1,147) and attacks per set (14.34), third for points (443) and points per set (5.54). She leads The American in all six benchmarks.

Senior setter Avery Kalsu is second in The American in total assists (775) and third in assists per set (9.69).

Middle blocker Camryn Lingenbrink continues her strong sophomore season for the Hurricane. She is ninth in the conference in blocks per set (1.05) and eighth for hitting percentage (.319).

Junior libero Marta Pecalli is sixth in the league in digs per set (4.11) and seventh in digs (329).

Sophomore middle Arianna Mongare leads Tulsa with 76 digs, ranking 11th among all AAC blockers.

As a team, Tulsa leads the nation in attacks per set (39.38), while ranking 12th nationwide in digs per set (16.98), 21st for total attacks (3,150) and 28th for total digs (1,358). In The American, Tulsa is first in attacks per set (39.38) and total attacks (3,150) while ranking second for digs (1,358) and digs per set (16.98).

Tulsa Volleyball to Face Oklahoma on the Road, Hosts South Florida and East Carolina

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Players Mentioned

Kayley Cassaday

Avery Kalsu

Camryn Lingenbrink

Arianna Mongare

Marta Pecalli