Tulsa Volleyball Stuns #22 Arkansas in Five-Set Thriller

Thursday, September 12

Tulsa, Okla.

6:30 p.m.

Tulsa

7-1,0-0AAC

Arkansas

7-1,0-0SEC

Arkansas

Tulsa

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Tulsa Volleyball Stuns #22 Arkansas in Five-Set Thriller

9/12/2024 11:48:00 PM | Volleyball

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BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The 7-1 Golden Hurricane made waves in the college volleyball world, shocking the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks (7-1) in five sets (25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 22-25, 15-8) in the home opener Thursday night under the lights of the Donald W. Reynolds Center. History was made as Tulsa earned its second-ever victory over a nationally-ranked opponent.

It was a defensive clinic as neither team hit above .160 with both squads finishing around the century mark in digs as Arkansas recorded 105 digs and Tulsa had 99. Teamwork helped push Tulsa over the edge as five Hurricane reached double-figures in digs with two eclipsing the 20 digs mark, including senior libero Marta Pecalli, who had 4.8 digs per set (24) and junior outside hitter Lauren Eitler, who finished with 4.2 digs per stanza (21).

The TU front row won the blocking battle 12-9 as the Golden Hurricane combined for 16 block assists and four block solos, led by senior middle blocker Tytiana Johnson's two solos and five block assists. Johnson finished with eight kills and a .300 hitting percentage and slammed down Tulsa's final two kills of the match, including the fifth-set clincher.

Thursday's scoring leader was middle blocker Rachel Brown. The senior from League City, Texas, put up 15.5 points resulting from a team-leading 14 kills and three block assists. She was largely set up by setters Brayden Hipp (31 assists) and Brittany Bacorn (15 assists), who combined for 46 assists in the Tulsa attack.

The Hogs' Romani Thurman led the Arkansas offense with 24 kills (4.8 per set) to only six errors in 57 total attacks, while Hannah Hogue recorded 42 assists (8.4 per set) and Courtney Jackson finished with an Arkansas record 40 digs at a whopping eight digs-per-set average.

"It means everything to us," said Rachel Brown. "We just wanted to go out and work as hard as we could, have fun, play as a team and show everything that we've got. We knew that we had to come out here and get it done. We wanted to come out aggressive but play clean. It's amazing being a senior and seeing everything come together right now. Coach Ram really knows how to get us going and get us going together. It's just amazing."

The Hurricane will continue the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational Friday against Stephen F. Austin (5-3) at 11 a.m. and Oklahoma (4-1) at 6:30 p.m.

Match Notes

Tulsa earns its second ranked win in program history … the first came in a 3-0 sweep of #15 LSU in the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament.
TU snapped a five-match losing streak to Arkansas and earned its first win over the Razorbacks since 2008 … the deficit in the series has been cut to 10-6 Arkansas.
Five Tulsa players reached double-digits in digs: L Marta Pecalli (24), OH Lauren Eitler (21), OH Regan Pendleton (17), S Brayden Hipp (15) and S Brittany Bacorn.
S Brayden Hipp (31 assists/15 digs) recorded her fifth double-double of the season and 10 of her career.
OH Lauren Eitler (10 kills/21 digs) had her second double-double this season and eighth of her career … her 21 digs are a new career-high.
Freshman S Brittany Bacorn (15 assists/12 digs) earned her first career double-double.
MB Rachel Brown saw the brunt of the offensive attack with a team-high 14 kills out of a career-high 47 attempts.
OH Regan Pendleton stepped up on defense with a new career-best of 17 digs.
Tulsa out-blocked Arkansas 12-9.
The Razorbacks had 105 digs and Tulsa had 99.
Every set featured numerous tie scores and lead changes, but Tulsa scored first in set five and never looked back to capture the frame 15-8 to secure the 3-2 victory.

How It Happened

SET 1 | Arkansas started the match by taking a 4-1 lead to start set one, which was erased by a 3-0 run by Tulsa. Both teams exchanged blows as neither could lead by more than one score until Tulsa broke the 9-9 tie with another 3-0 scoring run. Although Arkansas closed the gap to make it a 15-15 deadlocked set, Tulsa took the lead at 16-15 off a Razorback service error and never allowed Arkansas to tie the frame, winning the set by four points, 25-21. L Marta Pecalli had six digs in the opening set.

SET 2 | Set two was one of the most challenging sets of the match with nine ties and four lead changes. Neither team could enjoy a lead of more than two until Tulsa took a 14-11 lead midway through the stanza. From there, Arkansas could not find an answer as TU utilized three-point and six-point scoring runs to win the set 25-18.

SET 3 | The third set was more of the same, but the roles were swapped as Arkansas benefitted from multiple 3-0 and 4-0 scoring runs that sent the Razorbacks to the set's finish line 25-17 to avoid the sweep. The Razorbacks' defense held Tulsa to .000 hitting with 31 team digs.

SET 4 | Arkansas retained the momentum in the fourth frame, snapping a 6-6 tie and never trailing or allowing a tie from that point. The Hogs led by as many as six points as they rushed to a 25-22 finish to force a match-deciding fifth set. OH Lauren Eitler had five kills in the set, and three Tulsa players had five digs each.

SET 5 | The calm and collected Hurricane opened the final set of the day on a 4-0 scoring and utilized another 4-0 run to lead to a 10-4 set lead. At 11-7, Tulsa attackers came through with four kills to help close the frame at 15-8 and secure the 3-2 victory. OH Regan Pendleton had five digs and MB Tytiana Johnson had the clinching kill.

Tulsa 25 25 17 22 15 - 3
Arkansas 21 18 25 25 8 - 2