The Roadrunners (15-11, 8-7 AAC) extended their winning streak to seven games after winning their sixth and seventh consecutive matches this past weekend, beating the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-14, 6-9) in four sets on Friday and three sets on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
Friday night was not only a celebration of El Día de los Muertos but also a celebration for the Roadrunners as they dominated the Golden Hurricane in four sets: 25-11, 25-27, 25-15, 25-14.
Seniors Cansu Günaydin and Alicia Coppedge led the offensive attack for the Roadrunners, with 15 kills and 14 kills, respectively. Juniors Caroline Krueger and Mia Soerensen would not be far behind with 10 kills and nine kills. Junior setter Mekaila Aupiu also provided a scoring punch for the Roadrunners with seven kills while setting up her teammates with 44 assists, earning high praise from head coach Carol Price-Torok following the game.
“I think Mekaila has done a really great job of being offensive herself,” Price-Torok said. “It [has] opened up everybody else, and she’s done a really great job of keeping everybody else in tempo so that we can score points offensively.”
The Roadrunners would come out on top in the first set, running away with it 25-11. However, Tulsa would bounce back in the second set, thrashing the Roadrunners before Price-Torok would call a timeout amidst a 10-1 run by the Golden Hurricane.
Despite losing the second set, the Roadrunners maintained their resiliency, and coach Price-Torok showed why she has the team firing on all cylinders.
“Sometimes you gotta get after them,” Price-Torok said in regards to her two pivotal timeouts in the second and third sets. “Sometimes you gotta encourage them. It’s just trial and error to be honest.”
UTSA would win the third set, ending on a dominant 9-1 run after Price-Torok’s timeout, and would pull away in the fourth set to end the match.
Saturday’s Senior Day saw the Roadrunners extend their winning streak to seven games, finishing the two-match series against Tulsa. However, the match would be much closer than the 3-0 sweep would indicate, as the Golden Hurricane pushed the Roadrunners in all three sets, leading to final scores of 25-22, 25-22, 25-20.
Coppedge led the ‘Runners with 15 kills, while Günaydin and Soerensen would also be in double digits with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
On the defensive side, junior Ellie Turner would top her exceptional Friday night, anchoring the ‘Runners defense with 26 digs. Krueger racked up another 12 digs and Aupiu finished with 37 assists.
The ‘Runners were wire-to-wire with the Golden Hurricane in both sets. However, with Tulsa miscues and two successful attacks by Soerensen in the first period, a Coppedge termination and an additional kill by Turner in the second period, UTSA would inch out both sets 25-22.
Despite a valiant effort by Tulsa, the Roadrunners pulled away late in the third set to finish senior day with a sweep of the Golden Hurricane.
UTSA will play Wichita State at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday at the Charles Koch Arena.
