Tulsa Volleyball Upset At Central Florida

The Tulsa volleyball team saw its six-game winning streak come to an end as the UCF Knights upset the Golden Hurricane 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 24-26, 26-28) Sunday.

The Golden Hurricane (13-8, 6-1 Conference USA) hit .233 (68-28-172) while the Knights (6-12, 3-3 C-USA) collected an attack percentage of .220 (50-17-150). TU collected more digs (73-59) and more assists (62-48) than UCF, while the Knights out-blocked TU 11-8.

Senior outside hitter Tyler Henderson tallied 20 kills and hit .271 during the match. Junior outside hitter Kellie Culbertson tallied 14 kills and 18 digs to snare her 13th double-double of the season.

Freshman middle blocker Ashley Hooper recorded 14 kills, one off of her career high, and added five blocks.

Senior libero Jessica Adams led the Tulsa defense with 22 digs, while senior outside hitter Diana Silva chipped in 14 digs and eight kills. Senior Jordan Clampitt paced the TU offense with 32 assists, while sophomore Bailey Clampitt added 26 dimes.

The first set consisted of 11 ties and four lead changes as the two squads went back and forth. UCF took the set 25-22 as they hit .308 while holding the Hurricane to a .226 attack clip.

In the second frame, Tulsa jumped out to an 11-3 advantage en route to a 25-19 set victory. Henderson had five kills in the frame, while Hooper and Culbertson pitched in four apiece.

Neither team hit the ball well in the third, as Tulsa hit .114, and UCF had an attack percentage of .043. Tulsa was down 23-17, but rallied to take the next six points to tie the set up. After the teams traded points, UCF captured the final two points of the stanza to win it 26-24.

Tulsa jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the fourth frame, but UCF rallied knot the set up at 14. UCF had a match point opportunity leading 24-20, but the Golden Hurricane stormed back as Henderson scored the next five points to give TU set point. Tulsa again had a chance to end the set maintaing a 26-25 advantage, but UCF won the next three points to claim the set 28-26.

Tulsa returns home for a pair of games at the Reynolds Center, as TU will host UTEP on Friday in a 7 p.m. contest. Tulsa will wrap up its quick homestand with a 1 p.m. match on Sunday, October 14 against Tulane.