East Carolina University
10-12, 3-8AAC
Tulsa
11-13, 6-6AAC
East Carolina Falls To Tulsa, 3-0
October 30, 2015 | Volleyball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina volleyball team dropped an American Athletic Conference match to Tulsa 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-12) Friday evening inside Minges Coliseum. The contest was played before a healthy crowd of 633 - the second-largest of the season for ECU.
"Torre Blake gave us a great spark in the second frame, but dropping the set in extra points took the wind out of our sails a good bit," head coach Julie Torbett said. "This is a team sport and each member of this squad has to work together to get better."
Tulsa (11-13, 6-6 AAC) notched 41 kills in the three sets and ended up with a .222 attacking percentage while the Pirates racked up 30 kills and hit .137. The Golden Hurricane had a slight 58-53 edge in digs but East Carolina (10-12, 3-8 AAC) tallied more blocks (5.0-4.0).
Sophomore outside hitter Ashton Mares paced the ECU offensive efforts with nine kills and committed just two errors to hit .212. She added seven digs and a service ace. Defensively, senior libero Erika Figueroa collected a match-best 18 digs and needs just two more to move into 10th place on the program single-season chart. She also moved closer to fourth place on the East Carolina career list as she is within 62 of Jo Bertini. Sophomore outside hitter Natalie Montini and junior middle hitter Ashley McRae notched three blocks apiece.
Erica Bohannon led Tulsa with 17 kills while Rebecca Reeve tallied a squad-high 15 digs.
Mares got the evening started with a kill to put East Carolina ahead and the teams battled for the upper hand through much of the early portion of the first set. With the score tied at 13 later on, the Golden Hurricane scored six of the next seven points to pull ahead by five. After a Pirate timeout, the home team rallied within 21-17 and forced Tulsa to call for time after a Bohannon attacking error, but a 4-2 Golden Hurricane run allowed Tulsa to take the stanza by six points.
ECU fell behind 4-1 in the second frame but quickly tied things at four following a kill by Blake. Bohannon gave the Golden Hurricane a 9-6 advantage with a kill a few rallies later but a pair of Mares kills capped a 4-1 run that allowed East Carolina to knot the score at 10. No team had more than a two-point advantage the rest of the way and the Pirates edged in front 23-22 late following a Tulsa attacking error, but the visitors captured four of the last five points to escape into intermission with a 2-0 lead in the match.
Trinity Alualu served the Golden Hurricane to a 6-1 cushion in the third stanza. East Carolina was able to cut into the lead slightly as a Kierra Lee-Dunson kill pulled the Pirates within 8-4. ECU could not quite build any momentum the rest of the way however as Tulsa eventually pulled away and clinched the match by a 25-12 margin.
The Pirates return to action Sunday and will look for their first win in five matches when they host the current AAC leader SMU. First serve is set for Noon inside Minges Coliseum.
