The Tulsa Golden Hurricane volleyball team took down the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks (7-1) in five sets (25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 22-25, 15-8) in the home opener Thursday night under the lights of the Donald W. Reynolds Center. History was made as Tulsa earned its second-ever victory over a nationally-ranked opponent.
It was a defensive clinic as neither team hit above .160 with both squads finishing around the century mark in digs as Arkansas recorded 105 digs and Tulsa had 99. Teamwork helped push Tulsa over the edge as five Hurricane reached double-figures in digs with two eclipsing the 20 digs mark, including senior libero Marta Pecalli, who had 4.8 digs per set (24) and junior outside hitter Lauren Eitler, who finished with 4.2 digs per stanza (21).
The TU front row won the blocking battle 12-9 as the Golden Hurricane combined for 16 block assists and four block solos, led by senior middle blocker Tytiana Johnson's two solos and five block assists. Johnson finished with eight kills and a .300 hitting percentage and slammed down Tulsa's final two kills of the match, including the fifth-set clincher.
Thursday's scoring leader was middle blocker Rachel Brown. The senior from League City, Texas, put up 15.5 points resulting from a team-leading 14 kills and three block assists. She was largely set up by setters Brayden Hipp (31 assists) and Brittany Bacorn (15 assists), who combined for 46 assists in the Tulsa attack.
The Hogs' Romani Thurman led the Arkansas offense with 24 kills (4.8 per set) to only six errors in 57 total attacks, while Hannah Hogue recorded 42 assists (8.4 per set) and Courtney Jackson finished with an Arkansas record 40 digs at a whopping eight digs-per-set average.