Tulsa Sweeps Oral Roberts in Concluding Match of ORU Volleyball Classic

Saturday, September 7

Tulsa, Okla. (At ORU)

1:30 p.m.

Tulsa

6-1,0-0AAC

Oral Roberts

0-6,0-0Summit League

Tulsa

Oral Roberts

Tulsa Sweeps Oral Roberts in Concluding Match of ORU Volleyball Classic

9/7/2024 6:09:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — It was business as usual for The University of Tulsa volleyball team as the Golden Hurricane got its 16th consecutive victory over in-town foe Oral Roberts (0-6) across town in the Mabee Center in a three-set sweep (25-14, 25-10, 25-15) to conclude the ORU Volleyball Classic. Tulsa was the outright champion of the tournament, going undefeated with three wins.

TU now has six wins through the first seven matches of the season, improving to 6-1 overall for the first time since 2016.

For their efforts this weekend, junior outside hitter Lauren Eitler and senior libero Marta Pecalli were named to the all-tournament team. Eitler had 24 kills, nine aces and 18 digs over the three matches with a double-double (13kills/12 digs) in the 3-1 win over Sam Houston Friday. Pecalli registered 60 digs during the tournament at a six digs-per-set average while chipping in 21 assists and 10 aces.

Tulsa dominated Oral Roberts Saturday in all aspects of the game. The offensive attack was led by graduate outside hitter Tatum Tornatta's 11 kills and was coordinated by accurate passes from setters Brayden Hipp (23 assists) and Brittany Bacorn (11 assists).

Hipp also chipped in 16 digs (5.33 per set) to earn her fourth double-double of the year.

On defense, Pecalli continued her dominant week with six assists per frame to finish with 18 on the day. Middle-blocking seniors Rachel Brown and Tytiana Johnson each had three block assists to fortify the front row. They also combined for 15 kills on offense.

"I saw a lot of our team just playing together and everybody doing their job," said junior middle blocker Arianna Mongare. "Coach Ram talks about being present and I felt like everyone was very present today. We talked a lot about evenly distributing the ball to our hitters, which we did very well.

"We're so grateful for our loyal fans who came out to support us today. It makes such a difference when we see people we know in the stands. They always cheer for us well, and it was really cool to see everybody."

Mongare knocked away six and one block assist in the win over Oral Roberts. She totaled 21 kills and 11 blocks through the tournament's three matches.

"I'm very excited for the home opener next week," said Mongare. "We're welcoming in great competition, and I think it'll be a good challenge for our team. It's going to be fun, and we hope a lot of people come out!"

Tulsa will open the home slate this Thursday and Friday, Sept. 12-13, with the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational. The Hurricane will face Arkansas (5-0) first on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Then, Tulsa will take on Stephen F. Austin (5-2) and Oklahoma (3-1) on Friday at 11:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.

Match Notes

In the 85^th all-time meeting, Tulsa took down Oral Roberts, 3-0, for the Hurricane's 16^th consecutive win over the Golden Eagles.
S Brayden Hipp (23 assists/16 digs) recorded her fourth double-double this season and ninth of her career.
OH Tatum Tornatta led Tulsa's attack with 11 kills … it's the 66^th time in her career she's reached double-digit kills.
L Marta Pecalli had 18 digs on the day at a rate of six per set … she had 60 digs throughout the tournament, averaged six digs in each of the 10 sets played by Tulsa.
Tulsa had 18 kills in the first and third sets.
OH Lauren Eitler had five service aces, tying her career high.

How It Happened

SET 1 | MB Tytiana Johnson killed the ball from the middle to give Tulsa the opening score of the day. TU opened up an 8-3 lead and at that point was hitting for .400 as a group. After ORU cut into the deficit at 10-6, Tulsa opened a six-point lead with a 3-1 scoring run to make it a 13-7 set to force a Golden Eagles' timeout. The break had no effect on TU as the Hurricane rolled on for the remainder of the stanza, winning the set by 11 points, 25-14. S Brayden Hipp had seven digs in the frame and helped set up six different attackers, five of which recorded three or more kills each in the set.

SET 2 | A kill by MB Rachel Brown set up by S Brayden Hipp opened the scoring in the second set. Tulsa won the first three rallies and took an initial 7-3 lead. From there, the Hurricane made it a 13-8 ballgame to force an ORU timeout. Tulsa went on another scoring run of 6-1 to take a 10-point lead at 19-9, forcing another timeout by the hosts. Neither the timeout nor a subsequent challenge by Oral Roberts could slow down the Hurricane as TU closed out set two 25-10

SET 3 | The Brayden Hipp-Tytiana Johnson connection came through once again to open the scoring. A magnificent 8-1 run by TU to begin the set forced Oral Roberts to take an early timeout in a desperate attempt to slow down the Hurricane onslaught. Tulsa remained unphased, even after another Golden Eagles' timeout at 14-5. From there, Tulsa outscored the Eagles 11-10. The set was finished off by a block from MB Camryn Lingenbrink and RS Jolana Smidlova to lock down the frame 25-15 and secure the three-set sweep.

Tulsa 25 25 25
Oral Roberts 14 10 15

All-Tournament Team:
Tulsa - Marta Pecalli
Tulsa - Lauren Eitler
ORU - Trinity Freeman
Bethune-Cookman - Niara Highwater
Bethune-Cookman - Elizabeth Phillips
SHSU - Avery Fowler
SHSU - Michaela Panekova