TU Volleyball Ousts OU In NCAA First Round

The University of Tulsa opened the first round of NCAA Tournament play with a 3-1 win over Oklahoma Friday night.

TU's Tyler Henderson tallied 30 kills and hit .439 to lead the Golden Hurricane to victory.

"I am really proud of this team. What a great effort tonight, all the way around," Tulsa Head Coach Steven McRoberts said. "We had to fight through a time where we were missing quite a few serves. I was really proud of the focus of the team this week. We had a really good week of practice. We've really enjoyed our time here in California. I think the girls just played loose. It was a really good volleyball match tonight."

Sophomore Kellie Culbertson, a native of Long Beach, Calif., picked up her 13th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 15 digs. Junior Jessica Adams tallied 20 digs and junior Jordan Clampitt had 31 assists and seven digs.

Tulsa won a tight first set, scoring 19 kills and hitting .226, while OU hit .135. Culbertson led the Hurricane with six kills and seven digs, while Henderson and Silva tallied five and four kills, respectively. Adams added five digs and Jordan Clampitt had nine assists in the frame. TU recorded 20 digs, while Oklahoma had 24 digs. The set was marked by long rallies and tight scores, with 12 ties and four lead changes.

Oklahoma hit .406, while Tulsa hit .098 in the second set. The Golden Hurricane fell behind 11-6 early and trailed by as many as 11 points, 21-20 in the set. TU attempted a comeback with a five-point run, but fell 25-18. Henderson led the Hurricane with five kills.

Henderson scored 10 kills in the third frame, including five of the last six points of the set as the Golden Hurricane won 25-22. Both teams hit .400, and Tulsa converted 68 percent of its sideouts. TU had 19 kills once again, as Culbertson and Hancock added four kills each.

Henderson added another 10 kills in the fourth set, hitting .600, to lead Tulsa, which hit .256 in the frame and converted 75 percent of its sideouts. Culbertson recorded five kills and Adams had six digs. The Hurricane took a 12-6 lead, forcing Oklahoma to use both of its timeouts early. The Sooners cut the lead to 19-15, but TU broke away for a 23-17 lead and went on to win, 25-19.

Oklahoma (21-12) was led by three players with 10 kills – Suzy Boulavsky, Morgan Reynolds and Sallie McLaurin.

Tulsa hit .235 as a team (69-25-187) with 69 kills, 63 assists, seven service aces, 72 digs and 2.0 blocks. Oklahoma hit .278 (52-12-144) with 52 kills, 51 assists, one ace, 80 digs and 9.0 blocks.

Tulsa advances to the second round to face the winner of tonight's match between the host and #7-seed USC and Yale, Saturday at 9 p.m. CT