Tulsa Volleyball Sweeps Temple in Home Conference Opener

Sunday, September 29

Tulsa, Okla.

1:00 p.m.

Tulsa

10-4,2-0AAC

Temple

6-8,0-2AAC

Temple

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Volleyball Sweeps Temple in Home Conference Opener

9/29/2024 5:34:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BOX SCORE (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa volleyball team hosted a solid Temple Owls squad for the Golden Hurricane's first American Athletic Conference home match of the season and managed to close out in straight sets for the 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-23) victory. The Hurricane moved to 10-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play, while the Owls dropped to 6-8 and 0-2 in league action.

Junior setter Brayden Hipp stepped up big-time as the solo setter for the Hurricane, putting up 11 assists per set for 33 total on the day. She coordinated an offensive attack for the Hurricane that finished with a .221 hitting percentage, and she contributed 14 digs on defense for her ninth double-double of the season.

Graduate outside hitter Tatum Tornatta (10 kills) and senior middle blocker Rachel Brown (9 kills) benefitted the most from Hipp's direction. Tornatta had only two errors in 25 attempts for a .320 hitting match.

The defense for Tulsa was led by none other than seniors Tytiana Johnson and Marta Pecalli. Johnson, a middle blocker, assisted on five blocks, while Pecalli, Tulsa's libero, averaged 6.67 digs per frame to finish with 20 total digs.

"Coming to Tulsa, I've seen how supportive this community has been," said graduate transfer Tatum Tornatta, who came to TU after four seasons at Southern Illinois. "I loved seeing our summer campers come out to support us. I was in their shoes once, so I felt very grateful to play for them today.

"With our team, everyone has a role and plays them very well. I think that we were at our best when everybody was doing their job and when we had an even kill distribution. We feed off each other's momentum when we all contribute and do our job."

The Hurricane will continue conference play at home against Rice (7-4, 2-0 AAC) on Friday, Oct. 4, at 6:30 p.m. before heading to New Orleans to take on Tulane (8-6, 0-2 AAC) Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.

Match Notes

The Hurricane extends the series lead over Temple to 10-7.
Tulsa now has a nine-match win streak over the Owls.
S Brayden Hipp (33 assists/14 digs) recorded her ninth double-double of the season and 14^th of her career … she also had a career-high two block assists.
OH Tatum Tornatta had 11.5 points (10 kills, 3 block assists), the highest point total by a Tulsa player in a three-set match this season.
S Brayden Hipp averaged 11 assists on the way to totaling 33, the highest in a three-set match by Tulsa this year.
L Marta Pecalli had 20 digs at a 6.67 average per set.
Tulsa's front row won the blocking battle 8-7.
Although Tulsa got the 3-0 sweep, there were 26 total tie scores and 10 lead changes.

How It Happened

SET 1 | The opening set of the day had 12 ties and only two lead changes. Tulsa started with a 6-3 advantage before Temple tied it up at 7-7, 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10 and took the lead at 13-12. Tulsa snatched it back at 17-16 and rode to a 25-21 finish to take the early 1-0 match lead. S Brayden Hipp had 15 assists in the set, helping MB Arianna Mongare, OH Beth Bayless and MB Rachel Brown record four kills each. OH Lauren Eitler and L Marta Pecalli each totaled five assists.

SET 2 | Neither team could lead by more than one score until Tulsa went ahead by two at 10-8. From there, the Hurricane took advantage of a 15-6 scoring run to capture set two 25-14 to go up by 2-0 in the match. OH Tatum Tornatta had five kills, and S Brayden Hipp notched nine assists and six digs in the stanza.

SET 3 | The Hurricane looked to be unstoppable as the team started the third set with an 8-1 scoring run to force a Temple timeout. The stoppage was effective against Tulsa, however, as the Owls clawed their way back to knot up the set at 11-11. Tulsa would take a 15-13 lead only for it to be erased as the Owls went ahead by two at 20-18. The Hurricane stayed poised and took the lead one more time at 23-22 and rode the momentum to a 25-23 set three finish to secure the three-set sweep of the Owls.

Tulsa 25 25 25 - 3
Temple 21 14 23 - 0