Tulsa Escapes UAB in Conference Opener, 3-2

Friday, September 27

Birmingham, Ala.

7:00 p.m.

Tulsa

9-4,1-0AAC

UAB

5-7,0-1AAC

Tulsa

UAB

Photo by: Joshua Rogers

Tulsa Escapes UAB in Conference Opener, 3-2

9/27/2024 10:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Tulsa volleyball team opened American Athletic Conference play Friday night with a 3-2 (18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 11-25, 15-10) nailbiter over UAB in Birmingham. The Golden Hurricane improved to 9-4 on the season and 1-0 in league play, and the Blazers fell to 5-7 and 0-1.

UAB won the first and fourth sets with Tulsa grabbing sets two and three. In the fifth and final frame, the two teams were tied as late as 9-9 before TU outscored the Blazers 6-1 to secure the five-set win.

Tulsa setters Brayden Hipp and Brittany Bacorn coordinated the offensive attack for the Hurricane with 46 assists. Hipp, a junior, led with 24 assists and chipped in seven digs, while Bacorn, a true freshman, recorded 22 assists and added eight digs.

Three TU attackers reached double-figures in kills as graduate outside hitter Tatum Tornatta (15 kills) and senior middle blockers Tytiana Johnson (11 kills) and Rachel Brown (10 kills) helped push Tulsa to victory.

On the defensive side, senior libero Marta Pecalli had herself a night with 26 digs at a 5.2 average per set. Brown pitched in 11 digs to secure a double-double, and graduate outside hitter Regan Pendleton produced 10.

Five Tulsa blockers stepped up to combine for five blocks on the night with Brown and junior middle Arianna Mongare each recording three block assists.

"What a battle with UAB," Head Coach Lauren Ramatowski said. "They are a very good team with a couple of attackers who did a nice job finding kills against us. When our team was able to stay in system off the first touch from a passing and defensive perspective, our offense was able to find kills. Tytiana had a wonderful match, playing clean and aggressively at the net. Marta was a staple to our defense, she touched a lot of balls and kept us in that match. While it wasn't our best performance, it was a gritty win that in our tough conference is something to celebrate."

The Hurricane will continue conference play against Temple (6-7, 0-1 AAC) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at home in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Match Notes

Tulsa extends the series lead over UAB to 15-3 and 5-1 when playing in Birmingham.
The Hurricane's win streak over the Blazers improves to 12 consecutive victories.
MB Rachel Brown (10 kills/11 digs) recorded her first career double-double … her 11 digs are a career-high
S Brittany Bacorn set a season-high of 22 assists.
L Marta Pecalli had a season-high 26 digs.
Tulsa served 11 aces on the night.
UAB won the blocking battle 14-5 and hit for .253 to Tulsa's .184.

How It Happened

SET 1 | Five ties and two lead changes highlighted the first set of the night. Tulsa led early on at 6-4, but UAB went ahead 8-7 and never looked back, running away with a seven-point set victory, 25-18. The Hurricane was held to .024 hitting, while the Blazers had their best hitting set of the match at .387.

SET 2 | Set two featured a match-high seven tie scores and three lead exchanges, all in the first 16 rallies of the stanza. A kill by MB Rachel Brown broke the deadlock at 8-8 and jumpstarted Tulsa as the Hurricane led by as many as nine points at 19-10 before closing out the frame 25-16 to knot up the match 1-1. TU hit for .471 in the set as MB Arianna Mongare had five kills, S Brayden Hipp and S Brittany Bacorn each had eight assists and L Marta Pecalli dug out six attacks.

SET 3 | Tulsa gained its first match lead of the day with a 25-22 performance in set three. The Hurricane took an early lead at 7-3 before UAB utilized a 7-3 scoring run to force a 10-10 tie. Tulsa took the lead at 11-10 off a Blazer attack error and never trailed again, leading UAB by no more than four points at multiple rallies before closing out 25-22. OH Tatum Tornatta pushed Tulsa with six kills and L Marta Pecalli had a whopping eight digs in the set.

SET 4 | UAB would not go away quietly as the Blazers out-killed Tulsa 17-7 and held the Hurricane to a .070 hitting percentage while attacking the ball at a .375 average. UAB scored first and never allowed Tulsa to take control on the way to a 25-11 finish to force a fifth set.

SET 5 | Both teams fought hard to capture the match in the final set of the night, tying six times and changing the lead twice. The two teams were tied as late as 9-9 before TU outscored the Blazers from there, 6-1, to secure the five-set win. As a group, Tulsa hit for .364 and scored on 10 kills.

Tulsa 18 25 25 11 15 - 3
UAB 25 16 22 25 10 - 2