University of Houston
Tulsa
Volleyball Loses C-USA Finale at Tulsa
11/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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Nov. 12, 2006
TULSA, Okla. - Despite 16 kills from Becca Sartori on a .438 attack percentage, the University of Houston volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to Tulsa (22-30, 30-24, 28-30, 26-30) Sunday afternoon in its Conference USA regular season finale at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on the TU campus.
The Cougars (17-14, 8-8 C-USA) receive the No. 7 seed with the loss and will play No. 10 seed Rice Thursday evening at 5pm to open the C-USA Championship at Hofheinz Pavilion. The Owls (12-18, 5-11 C-USA) dropped a 3-2 decision to SMU this afternoon.
Sunshine Misa-Uli paced Houston, powering home 17 kills in addition to matching a season-high with 18 digs, while Justine Farmer added her 21st double-double of the season with 16 kills and 16 digs. With the double-double, Farmer established a new UH program record for double-doubles in a season.
Krystal Schulle outgunned Tulsa's Julia Silva, dishing out a match-best 61 assists to go along with 10 digs. Ashley Calhoun led the back row, corralling a match-high 22 digs. Erin Rice boasted six kills on a .385 clip and registered 12 blocks.
Tulsa (26-6, 13-3 C-USA) claimed the C-USA regular season championship behind 19 kills from Kassiana Urnau. Amy Meyer added 14 kills on a .500 attack percentage, while Silva passed out 49 assists and notched 12 digs for the victors.
The two teams opened the match going back and forth with nine ties and pair of lead changes in game one. Tulsa charged ahead at 19-17, scoring four consecutive points on a pair of Urnau kills along with a Nepomuceno kill and a Malorey Grove ace going away for a 30-22 win.
The Cougars regrouped and cranked 21 kills on a .381 attack percentage during the second game for a 30-24 victory. Seven of the 21 kills came off of Misa-Uli's right arm.
Houston took control of the frame ahead 12-10, reeling off four consecutive points. Kelly McAnelly ripped back-to-back kills coupled with a UH triple block and a Misa-Uli kill to stretch the advantage to 16-10. The Golden Hurricane got within four points at 24-20, but Misa-Uli responded by slapping consecutive kills to put the score back to 26-20. The Cougars closed out the game on a Farmer kill at 30-24.
The Cougars held the momentum out of the locker room by scoring the first three points of game three. Tulsa fought back and evened the score at 10-10 and used a 10-4 spurt to build a 20-14 advantage. Houston's defense dug deep using four blocks in addition to four TU hitting errors to leap ahead 28-27.
The Golden Hurricane defense turned the tide once again and used a block along with two McAnelly attack errors to win, 30-28.
Tulsa jumped out to a 13-7 lead to start the fourth game using a balanced attack, using kills from six different players. Houston cut the deficit down to four points on seven different occasions, but the Golden Hurricane had an answer each time to earn a 30-26 win.
Houston, seeded seventh, opens the 2006 C-USA Volleyball Championship Thursday evening with a match against No. 10 seed Rice. First serve against the Owls is slated for 5pm at Hofheinz Pavilion. Live stats for the entire tournament will be available on UHCougars.com
Cougar Notes
This afternoon was the fourth all-time meeting between Houston and Tulsa on the volleyball court ... The all-time series is now even at 2-2 ... All four matches have been won by the home team in the series ... The Cougars drop to 2-8 on this date in the Bill Walton era ... Houston falls to 5-3 in Sunday matches and have lost its last three decisions on Sunday ... It was only the ninth time in 49 matches dating back to November 2003 season that Houston has won game two and lost the match ... Ashley Calhoun has reeled in double-digit digs in 20 of her 27 starts at libero, including her last five outings ... Calhoun has surpassed the 20-dig mark in two of her last three outings ... With 22 digs, Calhoun is seven digs away from Kristen Guidish (1998) for the No. 5 position over a single-season ... Erin Rice recorded double-digit blocks for the second time this season ... Rice has recorded at least five blocks in eight matches with seven of the eight efforts coming in C-USA action ... The Illinois native also matched a career-best with six kills ... The last time Rice ripped six kills came against Robert Morris back on Aug. 27 at the Towson Invitational ... Krystal Schulle eclipsed the 60-assist mark for the fifth time this season by dishing out a match-best 61 assists ... Schulle also notched her 11th double-double of the season and her fifth in her last eight matches ... The Lockhart native is 27 assists shy of reaching 1,000 for the season ... Sunshine Misa-Uli ripped a team-best 17 kills, but Houston is 1-4 this season when Misa-Uli leads the team in kills ... Misa-Uli compiled her eighth double-double of the season, matching a season-best with 18 digs ... Justine Farmer has slapped double-digit kills in 33 of her last 36 matches dating back to last season ... The El Paso native also added 16 digs for her C-USA leading 21st double-double of the season ... The 21 double-doubles establishes a new program record at UH ... With 16 kills, Farmer passed teammate Kelly McAnelly (2003) and Lilly Denoon (1993) and is now tied with Karen Bell (1990), powering home 536 kills this season ... Farmer and Bell now share the No. 7 position for most kills in a single-season ... Farmer's 16 digs allowed her to pass Gabi Carbone's mark during the 2000 season for the No. 7 spot over a single-season ... The El Paso native is 14 digs away from teammate Ashley Calhoun for the No. 6 slot ... Kelly McAnelly added 11 kills and now has 1,419 career kills ... The Houston native is 45 kills shy from Lilly Denoon (1991-1994) for the No. 2 position in program history ... She also is eight kills away from Martina Shields (UAB, 2000-2003) for the No. 20 slot in C-USA history ... With 26 attempts, McAnelly is 268 swings away from Debbie Vokes (1994-98) for the top spot in that category in the Houston record book ... Becca Sartori cranked 14 kills on a .438 attack percentage and now has 1,310 career kills ... The Houston native broke into the Top 30 of the C-USA career kills list, passing Bridget Files (Southern Miss, 2000-2003) and Chrissy Smith (Cincinnati, 1995-1997) ... Sartori is 37 kills away from Kelly Trimble (Southern Miss, 1998-2001)for the No. 28 spot in the C-USA record book ... She also is 26 kills away from Emily Leffers (1993-94, 1996-97) for the No. 5 position in the Houston record book ... With three block assists, Sartori has registered 331 blocks assists and is 24 shy of Loure Dews (2001-2004) for the No. 4 position in program history ... She has tallied 376 career blocks and passed Janet Goreham (DePaul, 2001-2004) for the No. 23 position in the C-USA record book ... She is one block away from Shella Neba (Memphis, 2000-2003) for the No. 22 spot ... Sartori is nine total blocks from Marie Tourillon (1994-1996) for the No. 8 hole in the UH record book.
