Tulsa Volleyball Sweeps SMU On The Road

Led by a stellar balanced attack with four players tallying nine or more kills, the Tulsa volleyball team swept SMU (-21, -14, -17) Friday at Moody Coliseum.

The Golden Hurricane (16-8, 9-1 Conference USA) snapped the Mustangs (8-14, 5-5 C-USA) four game-winning streak. TU tallied 48 kills, hit .330, posted 59 digs and 45 assists in its second sweep in as many games. SMU hit .190, and collected 37 kills, 36 assists and 51 digs. Tulsa also outblocked SMU 6.0-5.0 and only committed 10 attack errors during the match.

Senior outside hitter Tyler Henderson led the balanced attack with 10 kills on 15 swings and earned an attack percentage of .600. Freshman outside hitter Paige Panfil tied a career high with nine kills and set a career high with four blocks in the contest.

Sophomore middle blocker Carly Boatwright hit .375 with nine kills and three blocks, while freshman middle blocker Ashley Hooper tallied nine kills, held an attack percentage of .318 and recorded four blocks.

Senior libero Jessica Adams collected 18 digs, three assists and a service ace. Junior outside hitter Kellie Culbertson added 11 digs and seven kills, and senior outside hitter Diana Silva pitched in 11 digs and four kills.

Sophomore setter Bailey Clampitt had 22 assists and eight digs, while senior setter Jordan Clampitt posted 18 assists and seven digs.

In the first frame, Tulsa jumped out to an early 9-4 advantage before SMU tied the set up at 10 apiece. After the score was tied at 16, TU scored the next three points to take a lead it would never relinquish as the Hurricane won the set 25-21. Hooper led the TU offense, which outhit SMU .310-.244, with four kills.

Tulsa and SMU were tied at seven apiece in the second stanza before the Hurricane went on an 18-7 run as TU took the set 25-14. Tulsa hit .464 while holding SMU to a .176 attack clip. Panfil tallied four of her nine kills in the frame, while Hooper chipped in three kills.

After the score was knotted up at 10 in the third frame, Tulsa went on an 8-3 run to take a lead it would never give up. Henderson led the TU offense with six kills in the set as the Hurricane claimed the final frame 25-17.

Tulsa will hit the road again for a tilt against Memphis on Thursday, October 25 at 7 p.m. The Hurricane will wrap up the weekend facing UBA at the Reynolds Center on Sunday, October 28 in a 1 p.m. affair.