Cassaday Makes History as Tulsa Volleyball Defeats East Carolina in Five

Sunday, October 29

Tulsa, Okla.

Noon

Tulsa

East Carolina

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Cassaday Makes History as Tulsa Volleyball Defeats East Carolina in Five

10/29/2023 5:19:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. — Graduate outside hitter Kayley Cassaday had 29 kills Sunday in Tulsa's 3-2 (25-21, 27-29, 22-25, 25-20, 16-14) victory over a tough East Carolina Pirates team to move to 1,759 career kills—now the second-highest tally in school history. The Golden Hurricane's second straight American Athletic Conference win improves TU to 6-7 in league play and 13-12 overall while the Pirates drop to 18-6 and 9-4 in conference action.

Cassaday began the day needing 12 kills to pass Erica Bohannon (1,741 kills from 2013-16) for second place on the all-time Tulsa leaderboard. She reached the mark near the end of the third set and helped rally Tulsa from down 2-1 against the Pirates in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

"It's awesome," said Cassaday. "But I'm more excited we beat ECU in five sets."

Cassaday also dug out 11 Pirate attacks to earn her 11^th double-double of the season.

"[Kayley Cassaday]'s humble, hungry and competitive," said Head Coach Lauren Ramatowski. "When we need someone to kill the ball, she's always one to step up for us. She rises to the occasion, and we're grateful for her competitiveness."

"Kayley and Regan Pendleton made great plays for us near the end with Avery Kalsu delivering the ball the way she does. We've been talking a lot about just playing good volleyball. Those three girls showed that and did a wonderful job of being consistent leaders. We don't need these emotional highs and lows all the time but just consistency and game from our leadership, which allowed us to be successful in stressful situations."

Senior setter Avery Kalsu had a monster game for the Hurricane, putting up a career-high 61 assists in setting up seven different Tulsa attackers for success. She also boosted the Hurricane defense with four block assists and 16 digs, good for her 11^th double-double on the year.

Junior libero Marta Pecalli showcased her talent on defense with a team-leading 28 digs on the day at an above-average rate of 5.6 digs per set. On offense, she contributed six assists and a service ace.

Junior Tytiana Johnson led all TU blockers with 2 block solos. Sophomore Arianna Mongare had three block assists while senior Regan Pendleton and sophomore Camryn Lingenbrink each recorded two blocks.

Mongare also had a career day for the Hurricane, slamming down a personal-best 14 kills.

Tulsa will hit the road next week for a two-match series at UTSA (13-11, 6-7) Friday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m.

Game Notes
» The overall series moves to 24-3 Tulsa … the Hurricane remains perfect at home against East Carolina.
» Set two featured 19 tie scores and 11 lead changes … overall, there were 53 knotted up set scores and 23 total lead changes.
» Kayley Cassaday's court-leading 29 kills moves her to 1,759 career kills—the second-highest mark in Tulsa history.
» Avery Kalsu (61 assists/16 digs) and Kayley Cassaday (29 kills/11 digs) each recorded double-doubles for TU.
» Avery Kalsu had a career-high 61 assists.
» Arianna Mongare set a career-high with 14 kills.
» Regan Pendleton tied her career-high in kills with nine.
» Marta Pecalli led the floor with 28 digs … she needs 10 more to become the fifth Golden Hurricane to eclipse 1,500 career digs.
» Arianna Mongare's .522 hitting percentage is the best by a Hurricane this season.
» As a team, Tulsa set season highs in kills (75) and assists (69).

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Hurricane grabbed the first match point with a 25-21 performance in the first set. Tulsa broke the tie at 9-9 and never gave up the advantage, leading by as many as five points at 18-13 before closing out the stanza. Marta Pecalli had a whopping nine digs in the set.

SET 2 | There were 19 tie scores and 11 lead changes in one of the most competitive sets of the season. The set required extra rallies and eventually wound up in ECU's favor 29-27, allowing the Pirates to tie up the match at 1-1. Avery Kalsu recorded 13 assists before the Pirates finished the set on top.

SET 3 | The third set was back-and-forth as Tulsa and ECU battled through seven ties through the first 30 rallies. A kill by East Carolina gave them the lead at 15-14 and the momentum for the rest of the set, keeping Tulsa within a four-point deficit all the way. The Pirates would claim the set 25-22 to grab their first lead in the match.

SET 4 | Tulsa bounced back in set four with a 25-20 finish to force a fifth set. The fourth stanza featured 12 tie scores. Tulsa took advantage of a 6-1 run to come out on top. Avery Kalsu had 15 assists and set Kayley Cassaday up for nine kills in the set.

SET 5 | The competitiveness between the two teams came to fruition in the fifth and final set as they fought through ten ties and three lead changes. The Hurricane erased a 10-7 deficit and knotted it up at 11-11. Tied at 14-14, kills by Tytiana Johnson and Lauren Eitler pushed TU to a 16-14 finish to claim the narrow 3-2 victory over East Carolina.

Tulsa               25        27        22        25        16
East Carolina 21        29        25        20        14