Volleyball Suffers 3-1 Setback to Rice

Friday, October 4

Tulsa, Okla.

6:00 p.m.

Tulsa

10-5,2-1AAC

Rice

8-4,3-0AAC

Rice

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Volleyball Suffers 3-1 Setback to Rice

10/4/2024 10:03:00 PM | Volleyball

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BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa volleyball team put up a strong fight against the American Athletic Conference preseason favorite Rice but couldn't escape the Owls in the end, falling 3-1 (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 18-25) Friday night in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane took their first conference loss of the season to fall to 10-5 overall and 2-1 in league play, while Rice rose to 8-4 and 3-0.

Both teams showed why they are the top two digging squads in the conference, with Tulsa averaging 23.25 digs (93) and Rice putting up 22.25 digs (89) per set. Both teams averaged over 16.5 digs per frame entering Friday's contest.

Tulsa players still shined despite ending the night in a loss. Junior setter Brayden Hipp had a career night with a career-high 42 assists at a 10.5 average per stanza. She also chipped in 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the year.

Outside hitters Tatum Tornatta (20 kills) and Beth Bayless (14 kills) saw the brunt of the offensive attack for the Hurricane. Tornatta, a graduate student in her fifth overall year of action, set a new career-high of 20 kills and added six block assists on defense.

As usual, senior libero Marta Pecalli had another overall terrific performance with 21 digs at 5.25 digs per set. She was one of five Tulsa players to reach double-digits in digs.

Tulsa will hit the road for New Orleans to take on Tulane (9-6, 1-2 AAC) on Sunday, Oct. 6, at 2 p.m.

Match Notes

Rice maintains the series lead 23-18.
Brayden Hipp (42 assists/11 digs) had her 10th double-double of the season and 15th of her career … her 42 assists are a career-high and she averaged 10.5 assists per set.
Five Tulsa players reached double-figures in digs, including L Marta Pecalli (21), DS Tally Grissom (15), OH Regan Pendleton (13), S Brayden Hipp (11) and OH Lauren Eitler (10).
Graduate OH Tatum Tornatta hit career-highs in kills (20) and attacks (56) … her 20 kills and 23 points are the most by the Tulsa player in a single match this season.
Tulsa had 12 blocks and 93 team digs, while Rice had 11 blocks and 89 digs.
The Owls out-killed the Hurricane 63-52 and won the hitting battle .220-.173.
Rice averaged over 15 kills per set.
Tulsa hit for .288 in the second set but couldn't reach anything beyond .167 in the other three sets.

How It Happened

SET 1 | The opening set of the match featured nine tie scores and five lead changes. Tulsa scored first of a kill by OH Tatum Tornatta. Rice took the lead at 6-5 and led by as many as six points at 16-10 before Tulsa clawed its way back to tie the frame at 18-18. The Hurricane had a chance to run away with the stanza when it led 21-20 but the Owls fought back to take the set 25-22. L Marta Pecalli had six digs before Rice took a 1-0 lead.

SET 2 | Tulsa opened the second set with a 6-1 scoring run, forcing Rice to take an early timeout. The break was unfortunately effective as the Owls slowly chipped away at the deficit and tied up the set at 13-13. Tulsa broke the deadlock at 14-14 and 18-18 and never looked back on the way to winning the frame 25-21. OH Beth Bayless produced seven kills, S Brayden Hipp put up a whopping 16 assists and OH Regan Pendleton dug out seven attacks in the set.

SET 3 | Set three was a heartbreaker as Tulsa led for the majority of the set but came up short. The Hurricane had sizeable leads at 9-5, 13-10, 17-13 and 20-16 until Rice knotted things up at 21-21 and rode to a 25-22 finish to go up 2-1 on TU. OH Tatum Tornatta (six kills), S Brayden Hipp (11 assists) and L Marta Pecalli (6 digs) all had great performances in the set, but it wasn't enough against the Owls.

SET 4 | Rice started the fourth set strong, taking 5-1 and 10-3 leads to force a timeout by Tulsa. The Hurricane was able to fight back from that point and trimmed the deficit to six at 13-7, making Rice take a timeout. A 7-1 scoring run by the Hurricane tied the set up at 14-14 and forced Rice's final timeout. Rice would eventually take the lead once more at 17-16 and cruise to a 25-18 closer to seal the 3-1 decision over TU.

Tulsa 22 25 22 18 - 1
Rice 25 21 25 25 - 3