Tulsa Sweeps Tulane in New Orleans

Sunday, October 6

New Orleans, La.

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

11-5,3-1AAC

Tulane

9-7,1-3AAC

Tulsa

Tulane

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Sweeps Tulane in New Orleans

10/6/2024 5:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulsa volleyball team grabbed its third sweep over an American Athletic Conference team this season after downing the Tulane Green Wave 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-19) in New Orleans Sunday afternoon. The Golden Hurricane improved to 11-5 overall and 3-1 in league action while Tulane fell to 9-7 and 1-3.

Tulsa's offense and defense thrived Sunday as the Hurricane out-paced Tulane 45 kills to 33 and out-dug the Green Wave by 10 (68-58). Tulsa's 68 digs averaged out to a 22.67 average per set, exceeding TU's conference-leading and average of 16.88 digs per set, Division I's 23^rd-best.

Senior libero Marta Pecalli led the stout defensive effort with 6.33 digs per frame, totaling 19 on the day. She and three other Tulsa players reached over 10 digs and helped hold Tulane to a hitting percentage of .119.

Brayden Hipp, a junior setter, produced 37 assists at 12.33 assists per set, helping hitters like junior outside Beth Bayless (12) and graduate outside Tatum Tornatta (10) each eclipse double-figure kills.

"A really good all-around win for us," Head Coach Lauren Ramatowski said. "Our team played with a combination of joy and competitiveness. I really loved seeing our defensive effort. Having four players reach over 10 digs is impressive. Brayden did a wonderful job of balancing our offense, getting our middles and our right side involved."

Tulsa will be back in action at home against Florida Atlantic (10-6, 2-2 AAC) on Friday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m. and South Florida (8-7, 4-0 AAC) Sunday at 1 p.m.

Match Notes

The Hurricane improved to 22-20 in the overall series with Tulane.
L Marta Pecalli continues to be an effective force on defense, averaging 6.33 digs (19) per set against the Green Wave.
S Brayden Hipp averaged 12.33 assists (37) per set
OH Beth Bayless (12 kills) and OH Tatum Tornatta (10 kills) led the attack for Tulsa … Tornatta now has 72 career double-figure kill matches and nine so far for Tulsa.
As a group, Tulsa dug out 22.67 digs per frame, exceeding its league-leading average of 16.88 digs per set.
Four Tulsa players had double-digit digs: L Marta Pecalli (19), DS Tally Grissom (13), MB Arianna Mongare (10) and OH Regan Pendleton (10).
Tulsa dominated the third set, never allowing a tie or lead exchange.

How It Happened

SET 1 | Tulsa opened the match with a 6-2 lead early in the first set. Then, Tulane tied it up at 9-9 and even took a 15-11 lead over the Hurricane heading into the media timeout. After the break, Tulsa knotted up the set against at 18-18, and from there neither team could gain an advantage of more than two points until they reached extra rallies with a 24-24 tie. A Tulane service error and a kill by MB Tytiana Johnson secured the 26-24 set win for Tulsa. OH Beth Bayless and OH Tatum Tornatta each had five kills and MB Arianna Mongare produced six digs in the set.

SET 2 | Set two started with nine ties and five lead changes. Neither squad could lead by more than two until Tulsa snapped a 10-10 deadlock and never looked back, leading by as many as five points at multiple points in the set to win 25-20 and take a 2-0 match lead on the Green Wave. S Brayden Hipp's 12 assists and L Marta Pecalli's 7 digs in the set helped push the Hurricane.

SET 3 | The third and final frame was all Tulsa as the Hurricane scored first with a kill by Rachel Brown and sprinted to a 9-1 lead to open the set. Tulsa's biggest lead came at 15-5 before Tulane was able to trim the deficit to three at 21-18. The unphased Hurricane kept the pedal to the metal and closed out 25-19 to secure the sweep. Tulsa held the Green Wave to .085 hitting, thanks in part to L Marta Pecalli eight digs and OH Regan Pendleton's seven digs.

Tulsa 26 25 25 - 3
Tulane 24 20 19 - 0