Tulsa Delivers ECU's First Home Loss in Sweeping Fashion

Friday, November 8

Greenville, N.C.

5:00 p.m.

Tulsa

16-9,8-5AAC

East Carolina

16-7,9-4AAC

Tulsa

East Carolina

Tulsa Delivers ECU's First Home Loss in Sweeping Fashion

11/8/2024 8:18:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Season Stats 11/8/24 ECU BOXSCORE PDF

Greenville, N.C. — Tulsa traveled to East Carolina on Friday to faceoff with the Pirates. Tulsa was able to pull off an upset of the previous No. 3 team in the American Athletic Conference with a 3-0 sweep on the Pirates (25-23, 25-22, 25-22). Tulsa is able to improve their overall record to 16-9 with an AAC record of 8-5. ECU now only one game ahead of the Hurricane is 9-4 in conference with 16-7 overall record.

The Hurricane were able to dominate the Pirates although they trailed in the beginning of each set. The Hurricane continued to battle and were able to be victorious in all three sets earning their ninth sweep of the season. Tulsa was also able to give ECU their first home loss of the season in the 3-0 win at the Minges Coliseum in Greenville.

The Golden Hurricane found success in many parts of the match and had great consistency from the attackers with even distribution. Tatum Tornatta had 31 attempts and led the team in the kill category with 14 kills. Setters Brayden Hipp and Brittany Bacorn were able to spread the ball throughout the attacking front with Jolana Smidlova (6 kills), Beth Bayless (7 kills), Rachel Brown (8 kills), and Tytiana Johnson (11 kills).

In a match that was dominated by the offense for Tulsa, Tytiana Johnson, again hit with incredible consistency at .471 percent while also collecting one solo block. Brayden Hipp was able to lead the offense with 23 assists on 60 attempts and Brittany Bacorn was able to add 17 assists and added one service ace.

Defensively the Hurricane had a slower night while only collecting 47 digs as a team. Marta Pecalli collected 13 digs and Beth Bayless added another 11 and Brayden Hipp provided 8 more to the collection. The blocking front for Tulsa was minimal with 3 total team blocks.

ECU had success in set two with the Pirates being able to out-hit the Hurricane with a .375 attack percentage while Tulsa had .368. The Pirates were kept out of system by the Hurricane as their setters were only able to collect 37 assists on their 41 team kills. Tulsa was able to outperform the Pirates in every statistical category continuing their dominant streak of performance. Success was found in ECU's Angeles Alderete as she connected with 12 kills and a .344 attack percentage. She also added 16 digs on the defensive end for the Pirates.

Tulsa continues on the road as they travel to Charlotte on Sunday, November 10th to take on the 49ers. ESPN+ coverage begins at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday from the Dale F. Halton Arena. All Tulsa Golden Hurricane Volleyball can be streamed on ESPN+.

Match Notes

Hurricane had 17 kills per set with a total of 51
Tulsa averaged 15.67 digs per set.
Tatum Tornatta led with 14 kills at 4.67 kills/set.
Tytiana Johnson continued her efficacy with a .471 attack percentage.
Tulsa held ECU to 41 team kills.
ECU was held to 3 team blocks.
Ari Mongare and Rachel Brown hit for .333
Tulsa was able to receive the ESU serve with only 3 errors on 64 attempts
ECU hit for a team attack percentage of .286 with Tulsa's .285 in trail.

How It Happened

SET 1 | Strong start for Tulsa with an opening kill from Tytiana Johnson to begin the match. Tulsa was able to keep it close with ECU following a 4-0 by the Pirates taking the score to 2-5 with Tulsa in trail. Tulsa continued to battle through set 1 with ECU until they were able to tie with the Pirates at 12-12. Tulsa was able to take their first lead at 18-17 following an ECU service error. Tulsa continued to lead while forcing the second ECU timeout at 21-19 following a Tatum Tornatta block. ECU was able to tie with TU to force the first timeout of the Golden Hurricane at 23-23. Tulsa then closed set 1 with a kill from Rachel brown at 25-23.

SET 2 | Tulsa started set two behind and was not able to lead until 6-5 after an overpass from ECU that was delivered back courtesy of Tatum Tornatta with a kill. Tulsa fought with ECU with long rallies and was able to win many of those battles. The Hurricane were able to extend to their largest lead at 12-9 with ECU trailing. Furthermore, Tulsa obtained the largest lead of the match at the set two media timeout with a 15-11 lead. Out of the timeout, ECU strung a 4-1 run to catch back up to Tulsa and cut the lead to one. ECU was able to tie Tulsa at 20-20. Tulsa was quick to continue the push with a kill from Tornatta followed by an ace from Marta Pecalli and a block from Mongare pushing the lead back to three forcing an ECU timeout at 23-20. Tulsa returned from the timeout able to close set two 25-22.

SET 3 | The first point coming from Tulsa was after a successful touch challenge that Tulsa was able to win after ECU scored the first two points. Tulsa fell behind to its largest deficit at 5-9 after an impressive kill from ECU. Tulsa struggled to keep pace with the ECU offense as ECU posted a kill percentage of .500 up to the media timeout where they led 15-11. Exiting the media timeout Tulsa struggled to gain momentum falling to the largest deficit of 16-11 at the time. Tulsa exited the media timeout with a 4-1 run to take the score to 15-17 and force an ECU timeout. Tulsa continued to battle cutting the lead of ECU to one. Tulsa then took the lead with a three-point run and forced the second ECU timeout at 20-19. Tulsa was able to continue the push through set 3 and close out the match 25-22.

Tulsa 25 25 25 3
ECU 23 22 22 0

-TulsaHurricane.com-