TU sports journalist Tristan Peterson delivers a comprehensive summary of Golden Hurricane volleyball, tennis, rowing and soccer.
This Wednesday, Tulsa Volleyball struggled in the match against Northern Texas University, but ultimately came out victorious in the five-set battle to close out non-conference play. They struggled offensively in the first set, but Emily Thorson and Taylor Horsfall managed seven and eight digs respectively. North Texas still won the set.
The teams would prove to be an even match; Horsfall dominated with nine digs so Thorson could smash out seven kills. This continued in the third set with 12 digs from Horsfall and eight kills from Thorson. Callie Cook also nudged her way into the action, earning four kills. Tulsa was quiet in the fourth set, allowing a win by North Texas 25-11. In the end, Tulsa roared on the court, winning the fifth set 15-9. Elyse Savadove stepped up to the the net with five kills matched by five digs from Horsfall. Horsfall finished the match with 39 digs, which matches her second-best effort in her career. She currently owns the team record with 44 digs in a match, which occurred in a set against UCF in October 2017. As a team, Tulsa tallied a season-high 108 digs, to go along with 61 kills.
Saturday was a real nail-biter, with fans unsure of the match against undefeated Wichita State University after Wednesday’s rocky performance. Tulsa came to fight and left WSU in the storm, giving Wichita State its first conference loss since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2017 and destroying their 29-match conference winning streak. Tulsa continued its perfect status at home for this season, 7-0. The first set was a dangerous battle royale, resulting in a 41-39 Tulsa loss. The 39 points from the Hurricane ties the most by TU in a set in program history, equaling a 39-37 first-set victory in a 3-0 win over Stephen F. Austin in 2003. Tulsa followed that up by dominating the second set 25-20. Despite dropping the third, Thorson had six kills while Mariah Pardo and Horsfall each accumulated five digs in the set to bolster the defense. Maggie Hembree led the Golden Hurricane in the fourth with six blocks on their way to a 25-15 victory. The final set played out with lots of long rallies, similar to the ones before. Fans were on the edge of their seats after each play before Tulsa clinched the match 19-17. In a game that saw 49 tie scores and 17 lead changes, the Golden Hurricane accumulated 106 digs, 70 kills and 13 total team blocks. The team has a week to rest before it travels to Florida for conference matchups with UCF on Oct. 5 and USF on Oct. 7.
Tulsa Men’s Tennis took the court at the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships this weekend. TU has been the official host of this tournament for the past 14 years. On day one, Tom Thelwall-Jones, a freshman from Wales, entered the Pre-Qualifying Draw all alone. Unfortunately, he fell to Henrique Osorio (Fresno State), 7-5, 4-6, 6-0, though he didn’t go down without a fight. Later on Sunday, Thelwall-Jones fell to Emile Hudd of Oklahoma State, 6-4, 6-3. Though Thelwall-Jones couldn’t find his rhythm in these matches, the team is waiting to see if he will be entered into the qualifying draw with doubles partner, Boriss Kamden. Kamdem, Daniel Siddall, Jarod Hing and Joshua Goodger are set to play singles in the qualifiers on Oct. 1.
The women of the Tulsa Rowing team tamed the waters and sailed to victory this week in the first day of racing at the Head of the Oklahoma on Saturday on the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City. First to finish in the Collegiate 8+ category was the Tulsa Hurricane ‘A’ team at 14:13.11: Sam Barber, Lucy Coleman, Ellie Russell, Helen Leigh, Veronique Ulrich, Daniela Fusco-House, Paige Hallam, Sophia Camara and Julia Herrel. In the Collegiate 4+ event, Katie Shin, Russell, Fusco-House, Ulrich and Camara captured a first-place time of 15:40.80. Alessia Ruggiu and Elisa Vandersloot tallied a top time of 16:58.67 in the Open 2x and in the Lightweight 2x, Meredith Galloway and Sydney Pirkle posted a top mark with a time of 17:57.45. On the final day, Leigh, Ulrich, Fusco-House and Russell captured a first-place finish in the Open 4x race in a time of 15:16.90. Ten seconds behind Kansas’ boat: Lindsey Smith, Madeline Oleksiak, Paige Hallam, Elizabeth McCabe and Nicole Workman recorded a second-place mark in the Open 4+ with a time of 16:22.24. Tulsa blocked out third through seventh place in the Open 1x: Lucy Coleman (17:53.78), Bobbi Forster, Sarolta Papp, Elisa Vandersloot and Karen Undset, respectively. In the Open 2-, Amy Pitzel and Sydney Pirkle turned in a third-place mark with a time of 17:09.4. Tulsa ended the racing at the Head of the Oklahoma with seven top-three marks.
The Golden Hurricane men’s soccer team fell 3-2 this week in a double overtime match against the University of South Florida. Joe Ruiz connected with Miguel Velasquez who sent the ball into the lower right-hand corner of the goal to put Tulsa up 1-0. Tomasz Skublak of USF later headed in a goal evening out the score. Neither team found the back of the net in the first overtime frame, but Skublak picked up his fourth goal on the year and second of the night to give the Bulls the win in the second overtime.
