Tulsa Takes Three Sets from Memphis for the 11th Sweep of the Season

Sunday, November 17

Memphis, Tenn.

1:00 p.m.

Tulsa

18-10,10-6AAC

Memphis

12-16,6-10AAC

Tulsa

Memphis

Tulsa Takes Three Sets from Memphis for the 11th Sweep of the Season

11/17/2024 5:24:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Season Stats 11/17/24

Memphis, Tenn. — Tulsa Golden Hurricane Volleyball closes the regular season with an impressive 3-0 (25-20, 25-16, 25-13) sweep over the Tigers of Memphis. Tulsa was able to show dominance in all three sets to obtain their 11th sweep of the season. Tulsa heads into the American Athletic Conference Tournament with a conference record of 10-6 and an overall record of 18-10.

Tulsa was able to maintain control throughout the entire match only finding themselves behind the Tigers twice in the three-set battle. They were also able to keep themselves out in front of the Tigers as they tied with Memphis only four times in the entire match. The Hurricane made sure to show dominance with their impressive 37kills to the Tigers' 29 and posting the second-best season-high attack percentage of .302.

Offensively, Tatum Tornatta was able to lead the Golden Hurricane to their 18th win of the season in sweeping fashion. Tornatta posted a career-high .800 attack percentage with 12 kills on 15 attempts with no errors through three sets. Ari Mongare was able to add seven more kills to the total and collected three assists in the match. Tulsa also saw five kills from Beth Bayless, Jolana Smidlova, and Rachel Brown with Smidlova having a .455 attack percentage good enough for a personal season high. She also added six block assists to the mix.

With other offensive support, Tulsa was able to collect 11 service aces. Marta Pecalli led the serving front by tying her career-high with six aces from the line. Brittany Bacorn continued her conference-leading aces per set by adding three to her total in Sunday's match. Brayden Hipp and Brittany Bacorn proved to be the steady support in the offensive game as they each found 11 assists of the team's total 34 assists.

For the defense, Tulsa was able to continue strong back-row support with 32 digs. Marta Pecalli was the dig leader with 11 digs. Pecalli was also on the receiving end of 14 serves with a 1.000 reception percentage. Brittany Bacorn was able to collect seven digs while Beth Bayless added six to the mix.

Memphis saw contribution from Hannah Jones with 10 kills and one block assist. Jordan Heatherly attempted to help the offense with her 24 assists on 68 attempts but fell short as Memphis collected only 29 kills.

Tulsa is ridding their three-set sweep on Sunday as they await results from around the conference to find the final standings going into the American Athletic Conference Tournament. Coach Ramatowski was able to comment on what a positive win does for a team as they advance into the Tournament.

"Proud of our team for bouncing back after a tough loss at home on Friday. We did a wonderful job this afternoon at playing clean volleyball." Ramatowski continued, "The girls did a great job executing our game plan and staying on task for the entire match."

The Golden Hurricane are set to enter the American Athletic Conference Tournament on November 22nd. Tulsa will await to see the final standings ahead of the tournament. All matches will stream on ESPN+.

Match Notes

Tatum Tornatta set a career-high .800 attack percentage
Tornatta led with 12 kills.
Tulsa and Memphis collect six blocks each.
Memphis was held to .080
Tulsa hit for second best attack percentage of the year at .302
Memphis only found one service ace
Marta Pecalli collected career-tying six aces
Tulsa collected the second-highest service ace count with 11.
Tulsa held Memphis to an attack percentage below .050 in sets three and four

How It Happened
SET 1 | After falling behind 1-3 in the opening set, Tulsa was able to start a very impressive seven-point run to make it 8-3 and force a Memphis timeout. Tulsa then continued the run to add three more points to force a second Memphis timeout at 11-3 after a full 10-0 run for Tulsa. Memphis was able to stop the run with a kill from Jasmyn Tate before Tulsa added two more to the score at 13-4. Memphis was able to construct a six-point run to push them to a 13-10 score forcing a Tulsa timeout. Capitalizing on the timeout, Tulsa was able to end the Memphis run and add two points to make it 15-10. Memphis continued to fight to overtake the Hurricane but fell short as Tulsa was able to hold on to the lead to finish the set at 25-20.

SET 2 | Tulsa started hot in set two being able to jump out to an early 5-0 lead over the Tigers. Tulsa was able to maintain the lead with Memphis on the hunt and cutting the lead to two at 6-4. The Hurricane quickly recovered and continued the dominance to take the lead back out to 11-5 forcing the Memphis timeout. Memphis then called timeout at 14-5 after watching Tulsa continue their scoring run. The Golden Hurricane continued to battle through the remainder of the match being able to maintain a lead of six or more. The second set was closed after an attack error from Memphis at 25-16.

SET 3 | Memphis struck first with a kill from Clara Bednarek, but Tulsa responded quickly with their own kill from Jolana Smidlova at 1-1. Tulsa made sure to establish the lead quickly with a 6-2 lead in what would be the final set. At 9-3, Tulsa still had the lead and forced a Memphis timeout. Memphis attempted to claw back and get within two following a four-point run out of their timeout making it 9-7. Tulsa was able to add to the lead with a 4-1 scoring run to take the lead out to five at 14-9 forcing the second Memphis timeout. Tulsa was able to add on two more points after Memphis challenged a touch call on both points making the score 16-9. Tulsa pushed through to have the largest lead of the match at 18-9. The Hurricane were able to score the remaining seven points in the set allowing only four points for Memphis. The final set in the regular season was closed at 25-13.

Tulsa 25 25 25 3
Memphis 20 16 13 0