Tulsa Volleyball Downs Miners In Five Sets

Senior Tyler Henderson pounded 31 kills, and senior Jessica Adams had 30 digs as the Tulsa volleyball team defeated the UTEP Miners in five sets (25-20, 22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-5) Friday evening at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Henderson hit .434 in the match to lead the Golden Hurricane (14-8, 7-1 C-USA). The Hurricane tallied 77 kills in the match and hit .227 overall, and outhit the Miners, which finished with 47 kills and hit .168 as a team.

Senior Jordan Clampitt recorded a double-double with 41 assists and 12 digs. Senior Diana Silva had 11 kills alongside her 12 digs and sophomore Bailey Clampitt tallied 26 assists and 11 digs, earning them both double-doubles as well.

Freshman Ashley Hooper slammed 13 kills and Junior Kellie Culbertson had 13 digs. Sophomore Carly Boatwright hit 11 kills for .304.

The Hurricane finished the match with 87 digs and 75 assists. Junior Xitlali Herrera led the Miners with 17 kills and hit .364.

The first set started out close with six ties early. After the last tie at 9-9, the Hurricane kept the lead through the set to win the frame 25-20. Boatwright led TU in the set with five kills as well as two blocks. The team had an attack percentage of .214, while the Miners ended the set with a .000 hitting percentage.

UTEP won the second set to tie the match 1-1, with a second set score of 25-22. The Miners were led by Herrera who totaled seven kills. Tulsa rallied late in the match from down 24-16 to pull to 24-22 with a 6-0 run, before finally giving up the set point. Three of the last six points came from Henderson kills. UTEP had a kill percentage of .237 and TU hit .140 in the frame.

TU took the third set, 25-18, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. After three ties early in the third set, Tulsa used a three-point spurt to take the lead, and held on to the lead for the remainder of the frame. The Hurricane used an 8-2 run to pull away to a 20-12 advantage. Henderson tallied eight kills and TU hit .500 in the frame, while the Miners hit .300 as a team.

The Miners won a close fourth set that featured 14 ties in the set and six lead changes, to win the frame, 25-22. Henderson put up five kills, and Silva and Hooper finished with four each in the set. The Hurricane hit for .119 and UTEP hit .222, to force the deciding fifth stanza.

Tulsa started the fifth set with a bang, taking a 6-0 lead, and never looked back as it ran to a 15-5 victory. Henderson had seven kills and the team hit .421 to UTEP's .000 percentage.

Tulsa volleyball hits the court again on October 14, 2012 against Tulane at 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Center.