Tulsa Unable to Close Out Five-Set Thriller Versus Rice

Saturday, September 23

Tulsa, Okla.

3:00 p.m.

Tulsa

8-5,1-1AAC

Rice

8-4,2-0AAC

Rice

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Unable to Close Out Five-Set Thriller Versus Rice

9/23/2023 7:15:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa volleyball team battled for five competitive sets but was unable to come out on top, falling 3-2 (26-28, 25-20, 26-24, 27-29, 9-15) to the (RV) Rice Owls Saturday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The loss drops the Golden Hurricane to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while Rice moves to 8-4 overall and 2-0 in league action.

The match was a defensive dogfight as neither team could hit over .190 on the day. Both teams had 11 blocks and combined for 244 digs.

Senior setter Avery Kalsu was all over the court for the Hurricane, putting up 52 assists and 22 digs for her seventh double-double of the year. Leading the Hurricane in digs was junior libero Marta Pecalli, who registered 24.

Leading the Tulsa middle blockers was Arianna Mongare. The sophomore rejected three solo blocks and three block assists. Sophomore Camryn Lingenbrink was right behind with two solos and three block assists, while senior Regan Pendleton chipped in three block assists to go with one solo stuff.

Graduate hitter Kayley Cassaday led the TU attackers with 19 kills. She also kept the ball alive with a career-high 21 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Joining Cassaday in the attack was Lingenbrink (14 kills), sophomore outside hitter Beth Bayless (13 kills) and Mongare (11 kills).

Tulsa continues its two-match series with Rice tomorrow in the Reynolds Center at 1 p.m.

Game Notes
» The match featured 37 total tie scores and 21 lead changes.
» Sets one, three and four required extra rallies.
» Avery Kalsu (55 assists/22 digs) and Kaley Cassaday (19 kills/21 digs) recorded double-doubles during the match.
» Five different Hurricane had double-digit digs (Mart Pecalli (24), Avery Kalsu (22), Kayley Cassaday (21), Brayden Hipp (13) and Lauren Eitler (13)).
» Four different TU players recorded double-digit kills (Kayley Cassaday (19), Camryn Lingenbrink (14), Beth Bayless (13) and Arianna Mongare (11).
» Arianna Mongare led the court in total blocks (4.5) and block solos (3).
» Career-highs: Kayley Cassaday (21 digs), Camryn Lingenbrink (14 kills), Arianna Mongare (11 kills)
» As a team, Tulsa had season-highs in total attacks (234) and service aces (9).

How It Happened

SET 1 | Set one featured eight tie scores and four lead changes in the final 20 rallies of the stanza. The Owls broke the 26-26 tie following a TU service error and a Rice kill to close out the first set 28-26 to go up 1-0 on the Hurricane. Rice had 39 digs in the set, while Tulsa registered 32.

SET 2 | Tulsa erased an 8-4 deficit and took its first lead of the set at 9-8. The Hurricane took another lead at 14-13 and rode the momentum from there, leading by as many as five points when it closed out the set 25-20 to even the match at 1-1.

SET 3 | Neither team led by more than two points for the start of the match until Rice jumped out to 15-11. TU closed the gap, but the match stayed neck and neck as neither program could lead by more than a point. Finally, Tulsa closed out the set 26-24 following a kill by Avery Kalsu and an attack error by the Owls to grab the 2-1 advantage in the match.

SET 4 | Six lead changes highlighted a competitive set four. Tulsa led by as many as six points at 20-14 before the Owls roared back to knot up the set at 23-23. Both teams fought through five tie scores from there before Rice's Danyle Courtley landed back-to-back kills to give the Owls the 29-27 set finish to tie up the match at 2-2

SET 5 | Rice scored the first point and never gave up the lead, cruising to a 15-9 finish to close out the match 3-2 over the Hurricane. Tulsa hit for a match-best .312, but Rice's offense was too much to handle as the Owls knocked away 12 kills and hit for .500 in the set.

Tulsa               26        25        26        27        9
(RV) Rice         28        20        24        29        15