SAN ANTONIO — UTSA volleyball dropped its American Conference opener 3-2 to the University of Tulsa in a five set match on Friday at the Convocation Center.
Within the first set, two long rallies ended with shutdowns by sophomore middle blocker Caroline Tredwell, but eventually resulted in a Tulsa win at 27-25. The second set presented a much tougher match up. The Roadrunners (8-5, 1-1 AC) lagged behind offensively, allowing for the Golden Hurricane (11-3, 1-1 AC) to pull away and win 25-11. Facing a two set deficit going into the third, UTSA fought hard and turned several out-of-system plays into a 25-21 win. A fourth set led well over duce, match point switching between both teams. But it was the Roadrunners who emerged victorious with a 31-29 triumph. In the final set, errors on attack and on rotation resulted in a bitter 15-7 loss for the Roadrunners.
“This is exactly what we expected to see from Tulsa. Obviously a team coached really really well, and they come at you from all sides of the net” commented coach Carol Price-Torok when addressing the fresh loss.
During the second set, Price-Torok made the decision to flip the outsides which led to an increase in kills for UTSA. Defensively, a change occurred closer to the final sets, junior defense specialist Peyton Turner switching out her libero jersey for that of a regular defense specialist. The change added to her presence in the back row and attempts on off the block pick ups. Overall, the match served as an impressive run by redshirt freshman opposite hitter Gigi Mason, hitting a little over .400 on attack.
“We put a lot on her shoulders today, I said go up there, trust yourself and swing,” Price-Torok said when reviewing Mason’s stellar attacking performance.
With a total of 36 attacks, Mason followed through with 18 successful kills and only three errors. On the wall of high hands at the net, Tredwell and junior middle blocker Miranda Putnicki tied for four blocks and graduate student opposite hitter Brooke Elliott led with five blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Ally Tribe made a stand on defense with 21 digs as well as hitting over .100 on offense.
UTSA will face Charlotte at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Convocation Center.
