Tulsa Welcomes UAB and Memphis for Home Matches this Weekend

Friday, October 10

Tulsa, Okla.

6:00 p.m.

Tulsa

UAB

Photo by: Anais Moua

Tulsa Welcomes UAB and Memphis for Home Matches this Weekend

10/9/2025 3:25:00 PM | Volleyball

MATCH 17:
Tulsa (13-3, 3-1 American) vs. UAB (7-9, 0-4 American)
6:00 p.m. CT - Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.

MATCH 18:
Tulsa (13-3, 3-1 American) vs. Memphis (9-9, 1-3 American)
1:00 p.m. CT - Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025
Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.

LIVE STATS: Tulsa StatBroadcast
TV (Tulsa Matches Only): ESPN+
GAME NOTES: Tulsa
GAME NOTES: UAB
GAME NOTES: Memphis

THE COACHES:
Tulsa: Lauren Ramatowski (Kansas State, 2010), 3^rd year
Career Record: 49-29
School Record: Same

UAB: Betsy Freeburg (Florida, 2012), 6^th year
Career Record: 54-89
School Record: Same

Memphis: Cheri Lindsay (Prarie View A&M, 2012), 1^st year
Career Record: 80-76 (6^th overall year)
School Record: 9-9

Home Contests against UAB and Memphis

The Golden Hurricane continues American Conference action this weekend as they take on UAB and Memphis at home in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
TU faces the Blazers first on Friday, October 10, at 6 p.m. and ends the weekend with a showdown against Memphis on Sunday, October 12, at 1 p.m.

Home Match Promotions

Friday's match against UAB is the Golden Hurricane's annual Pink Game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink in honor of breast cancer awareness and 100 pink belt bags will be given away by Tulsa Athletics.
Sunday is Capes and Crowns Day. Kids in attendance will receive free capes and crowns to wear during the match, and they will have the chance to meet Bluey, Else, Spider-Man and Moana in the Reynolds Center.

Best Start Since 2016

The 13-3 Golden Hurricane are off to their best start to a season after 16 matches since 2016 (also 13-3).
Before the 5-set loss to Rice, TU's 11-match winning streak was tied for the 5th longest in the NCAA.
Tulsa went 10-1 in the month of September, won 13 of their last 14 matches this season, and emerged victorious in 16 of their last 21 outings dating back to the end of last year.

Best RPI in Team History

The first NCAA Volleyball RPI came out on October 6, and the Golden Hurricane were ranked 43rd out of 348 teams in the country - the best RPI Tulsa has ever received in program history.
In the American, only South Florida is ahead of Tulsa at No. 36. Rice (65) and Florida Atlantic (66), Charlotte (93) and Wichita State (94) round out the top 100, while UAB (178) and Memphis (236) are the lowest in the league and the two opponents TU will be taking on this weekend.

Scouting the UAB Blazers

Friday marks the 19th all-time meeting between Tulsa and UAB on the volleyball court, with TU leading the series 15-3.
Tulsa is 9-2 when hosting the Blazers.
The Blazers are 7-9 overall and the only American team still looking for its first conference win, sitting at 0-4.
Delaney Brewer is the American's top server with 27 aces at 0.47 aces per set, while opposite hitter Jorda Crook is fifth for points per set (4.45) and kills per set (3.78).
Last year, UAB went 11-17 and 6-10 in conference and exited the first round of the American Championship.

Looking to Tame the Tigers

Sunday will be the 39th match between the TU and Memphis volleyball teams.
Tulsa leads the series 24-14 and has won the last four consecutive matchups and 10 of the last 12 meetings.
Memphis is 9-9 overall and 1-3 heading into this weekend's action. Their only conference win came against Tulane on Sept. 26.
Setter Madelyn Bach is seven in the conference with 7.72 assists per set, while middle blocker Janyah Henderson is eighth with 1.05 blocks.

National and Conference Stat Rankings

After six weeks of volleyball, here's where Tulsa stacks up on the individual and team level in the American and the national stat rankings.
Senior setter Brayden Hipp is atop the league with 9.40 assists per set and owns the most total assists with 545. Her total assists mark is 45th in the country.
Hipp's 42-assist performance in the win over Little Rock is tied for the 19th-most assists by a single player in a three-set match nationwide, while her 52-assist showing against Wichita State is the 28th-most in a four-set match.
True freshman middle Jill Hanson leads the American with a .394 hitting percentage. She peaked with .889 (8-0-9) against Cleveland State and has hit over .500 six times this season.
Hanson rose to No. 7 on the league's blocking list with 1.05 blocks per set so far this season.
After a dominant weekend against Wichita State that landed true freshman outside Maegan Mills American Freshman of the Week, she ranks 10th in hitting percentage at .317.
Sophomore setter Brittany Bacorn has come in to boost Tulsa's serve and defense. She ranks eighth in the conference for services aces (0.34/set).
Junior libero Lauren Patterson is holding steady at fifth in the American for digs (239) and digs per set (4.12).
As a team, Tulsa leads the American Conference in wins (13), assists per set (13.22), hitting percentage (.268), kills per set (14.14) and winning percentage (.813).
TU is 12th in the nation for assists per set, 14th in kills per set and 33rd in hitting percentage.

Tulsa Thriving on Balanced Attack

Tulsa has four players currently averaging between 2-3 kills per set. Any one of them can lead the team in kills for any given match.
Leading is senior outside Olivia Vance with 2.93 per set followed by senior outside Lauren Eitler at 2.57.
Senior outside Beth Bayless is third at 2.45 per set with senior middle Kat Cooper managing 2.33 kills per set.
Freshman middle Jill Hanson is close with 1.93 kills per set.
Much of this is due to brilliant passing by senior setter Brayden Hipp, who's been distributing the ball evenly through six weeks of play.

Everyone's Digging It

The defense has also been balanced for the Golden Hurricane.
Four players average two or more digs per set, with junior libero Lauren Patterson ranking fifth in the conference with 4.12 digs per set.
Sophomore setter Brittany Bacorn has stepped up with 2.76 digs, while senior outside Lauren Eitler averages 2.72 digs and senior setter Brayden Hipp maintains 2.5 digs. All four players have 140 digs on the season or more through six weeks.

Tulsa Snaps Losing Streaks to Wichita State

Tulsa came away with 3-1 and 3-0 victories over Wichita State last time, snapping multiple losing streaks to the Shockers.
Friday's road win at Wichita snapped a 13-match losing streak to the Shockers, getting their first win since September 27, 2019. Also, the Golden Hurricane got their first win against the Shockers in Wichita since 1980, snapping a 24-match losing streak in such contests.
Sunday's home sweep marked the first time since 1980 that the Golden Hurricane has earned at least two wins over the Shockers in a single season.

Golden Hurricane Sweep Three in Tulsa Volleyball Invitational

Tulsa wrapped up the non-conference slate with a trio of 3-0 sweeps over New Mexico State, Oral Roberts and Little Rock to win the Tulsa Volleyball Invitational.
Olivia Vance, Brayden Hipp and Lauren Eitler were named to the All-Tournament Team, with Vance taking home MVP honors after earning 37 kills (4.1 per set) and hitting for .472 over the weekend.
Lauren Eitler's 13 kill-12 dig performance helped push Tulsa to victory over the Aggies in the opening match of the tournament.
In the 85th Mayor's Cup battle between the TU and ORU volleyball teams, the Golden Hurricane came out on top once again, increasing its current win streak over the Golden Eagles to 16 and cutting ORU's series lead down to 56-29.
Tulsa posted a .325 hitting percentage with 51 kills against Little Rock. Notably, Vance landed 15 kills and finished with a .448 hitting mark, and Kat Cooper also finished above .400, going 12-2-24 from the floor for a .417 hitting clip.

Tulsa Goes 3-0 at Wooo Pig Invitational

Tulsa's had a strong weekend in Arkansas in week two, where the Golden Hurricane produced convincing wins over Cal Poly, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
TU dominated Cal Poly with a .357 hitting percentage, led by .500+ showings by Olivia Vance (.591), Jill Hanson (.571) and Lauren Eitler (.500), with Vance leading the way with 15 kills to only two errors on 22 total attacks.
Oklahoma's nine service aces were not enough to overcome Tulsa's balanced attack, highlighted by a .341 hitting percentage in the second set. Former Sooner Beth Bayless paved the way with 11 kills and 2 aces.
The Golden Hurricane have now won two in a row over the Razorbacks. Three TU players finished in double-digits for kills thanks to a monster performance by setter Brayden Hipp, who recorded a then-career-best 45 assists to go with eight digs, three kills, two aces and two blocks.

On the Roster

TU returns three of seven starters and four of 12 letterwinners.
Returning starters include senior hitters Beth Bayless and Lauren Eitler and senior setter Brayden Hipp.
The fourth and final returning letterwinner is sophomore setter Brittany Bacorn.
The Golden Hurricane welcomes four transfer players to the roster in 2025. The TU coaching staff hit the transfer portal this offseason and signed San Diego State senior middle Kat Cooper (Springdale, Ark.), James Madison outside junior Olivia Vance (Bixby, Okla.), Loyola Marymount senior libero Lauren Patterson (Portland, Ore.) and Iowa Western Community College junior libero Quinn Swofford (Branson, Mo.).
The six true freshmen ready to don the Blue and Gold for the first time this year are setter Meg Goodwin (Tulsa, Okla.), middle blocker Jill Hanson (San Antonio, Texas), libero Milee Jackson (Tulsa, Okla.) and hitters Kylee McCoy (Royse City, Texas), Maegan Mills (Topeka, Kan.) and Ava Steffe (Frisco, Texas).

2025 Tickets
Single-game tickets are now on sale for $13 per ticket per match for ages 4 and older and can be purchased in advance at TulsaHurricane.com or at the entrance. Season tickets also start at just $50. Season ticket members will receive 1 (one) membership card per ticket that they order that will be good for all 2025 TU Volleyball regular-season home matches in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. No refunds for canceled games due to weather-related or any other cause. CLICK HERE to start the process of ordering tickets or call 918-631-4688.

Ball Kid Signups
The Tulsa volleyball team is looking for ball kids for the 2025 season. Ball kids and one accompanying parent or guardian will receive free admission for games they sign up for. Ball kids will retrieve balls that go out of bounds on the sidelines for the entire game and provide a fresh ball for servers. Only ages 10-12 are allowed to participate. Individual and group signups will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign up by clicking HERE.

Visit www.TulsaHurricane.com for the latest news and information on the volleyball program. Fans can also follow the team on X, Facebook and Instagram.