Friday College Volleyball Roundup

Here are the results from Friday's college volleyball action from across the state:


TU Opens With Pair Of Friday Wins

TULSA - The University of Tulsa volleyball team opened up the Sugar Bear Classic by winning both matches on Friday, first against Boise State, 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14), and then sweeping Louisiana-Monroe (25-15, 25-15, 25-9), improving to 4-1 in the young season.

Sophomore Erica Bohannon led all Hurricane with 26 kills in the two matches, while senior Bailey Clampitt picked up 74 assists on the day, including a season-high 46-assist performance in the early match against the Broncos.

Nicole Newton recorded 14 kills, seven in each match, to go along with her 12 blocks, while Valerie El Houssine finished day one with a combined 22 kills and 26 digs. Junior Ashley Hooper tallied 11 kills, including a season-high seven kills against BSU.

TU's opening match was tightly contested from start to finish, with 29 ties and eight different lead changes, as the Broncos dropped to 1-3 on the season.

After Tulsa dropped its first set against the Broncos, the Hurricane took the second set without trailing throughout. El Houssine led TU in the frame with a set-high five kills.

With the score 11-11 midway through the second stanza, TU went on an 8-2 run, making the deficit too large for a Bronco comeback. El Houssine finished off the set with two of Tulsa's final three kills, to even the match, 1-1.

After BSU took a 2-1 lead in the match, the Hurricane were forced to comeback for the second time in the match. TU led off the set 9-3 thanks to five attack errors from BSU. However, the Broncos were able to battle back to eventually take a brief one-point lead at 18-17. Later in the set, Bohannon gave the Hurricane a 24-21 lead, after recording her third and fourth kills of the stanza. A Bronco service error ended the frame, forcing a fifth and final set.

The final frame stayed tight throughout as the two sides were tied eight times. The Hurricane saw itself down just one time in the set, when BSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead. With the set knotted at 14-14, the Broncos committed two-straight errors to give TU the match.

Bohannon picked up her third double-digit kill match of the season, with 17, to go along with a career-high five total blocks (2/BS, 3/BA). El Houssine recorded her third double-double of the season tallying 17 kills and 16 blocks. Brooke Berryhill recorded her fourth double-digit dig performance of the year, with 11.

Tulsa's second match was not nearly as competitive as the Hurricane won each set by at least 10 points, earning its second sweep of the season.

As a team, Lousiana-Monroe (2-4) finished the match with a -.020 hitting percentage and just one team block. On the other side, of the net, TU hit a season-high .347, including a .440 mark in the third set, to go along with 11 team blocks.

Hooper finished the match with seven kills and a season-high .545 hitting percentage. Bohannon led the Hurricane in the second match with nine kills, while El Houssine finished with a team-high 10 digs.

TU will wrap up the Sugar Bear Classic with a showdown against host school Central Arkansas at 3 p.m tomorrow.

Sooners Dominate Texas Southern

DALLAS – The No. 24 University of Oklahoma volleyball team ran off a quick 3-0 win over Texas Southern in its first match of the Doubletree Invitational, hosted by SMU, Friday afternoon. The Sooners, who entered the AVCA Top-25 this week, improved to 3-1, while the Lady Tigers dropped to 1-3.

Oklahoma earned its second straight sweep to open tournament play by winning in straight sets; 25-14, 25-14, 25-9.

Junior outside hitter Kierra Holst led all players with eight kills and hit .533 with four digs and three service aces. Redshirt-sophomore middle blocker Summer Cole made her first appearance of the season and finished second on the team with six kills and a team-leading .857 attack rate.

In just two sets, redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Madison Ward contributed five kills, three digs and hit .556. Sophomore outside hitter Kimmy Gardiner chipped in with four kills.

Junior setter Julia Doyle picked up 23 assists and added three digs, while junior libero Taylor Migliazzo led the Sooners with eight digs.

The Texas Southern attack was led by Sarah Wooton and Kali Fluke with five kills, apiece. Wooton led the Lady Tigers with nine assists.

For the match, Oklahoma hit .424, while holding Texas Southern to an even .000.

The Sooners return to action with a pair of games on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. against Georgia Tech before facing the host Mustangs at 7 p.m.

Pope Leads ORU To Milwaukee Sweep

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri – A day after their worst outing of the young season, Oral Roberts University rebounded in a big way with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-21) sweep of defending Horizon League Tournament champion Milwaukee. ORU is now 3-2 overall and 1-1 at the University Plaza/Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational.

ORU won the 1st set but lost seven of the first eight points to start set two. However, an 8-2 run midway through the set, capped by a Sara Pope kill, gave the Golden Eagles a 16-15 lead. ORU would hold the momentum for the remainder of the match.

Pope had her finest day of the season so far, with 15 kills and a .394 hitting percentage. Laura Milos added 14 kills and a team-high 12 digs to record her second double-double in as many days.

ORU hit .252 and held Milwaukee to a .192 hitting percentage. Outside of Kolinske, the Panthers hit just .043. The Golden Eagles tallied a sterling .457 hitting percentage in the 2nd set

Freshman Megan Doran made her collegiate debut and tallied five blocks (one solo) to go with a pair of kills and Lucija Bojanjac led all players with 37 assists.

ORU is now 1-1 all-time against Milwaukee. The Panthers had won the first meeting between the teams, in 2006. The victory is the first for ORU over a Horizon League team since a 3-0 sweep of former league member Butler on Aug. 29, 2008.

ORU finishes their trip to Springfield on Saturday, when they face Western Kentucky and Incarnate Word. The double-dip is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.