WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State delivered another well-rounded performance to sweep away Tulsa 25-17, 25-14, 25-17 on Saturday night at Charles Koch Arena.
The victory extends Wichita State's current winning streak to seven; the Shockers have now beaten the Golden Hurricane 19 consecutive times in Wichita and nine straight times overall.
Tulsa entered the series ranked in the top ten nationally in digs per set, but it was Wichita State's back row that stole the show. The Shockers out-dug Tulsa 64-47, getting a match-best 19 ups from
Gabi Maas and 16 from
Morgan Weber to aid the defensive effort. WSU held Tulsa to a .142 hitting percentage while humming along at a .302 clip themselves.
Just like Friday, Wichita State (15-5, 9-1) jumped all over Tulsa from the outset. A pair of Maas aces early in the first set gave WSU a 7-2 lead that forced a Tulsa timeout. The advantage quickly stretched to 15-6, and Tulsa never got closer than six the rest of the way.
Sophia Rohling turned in a strong opening frame with five kills on 10 attempts, and
Emerson Wilford added four terminations of her own to power the Shockers across the finish line.
Another fast start had the Shockers on the front foot in set two. Kills from Wilford, Rohling and
Natalie Foster staked WSU to a 5-1 lead out of the gate, later swelling to 10-4 before Tulsa attempted to stop the bleeding with a timeout. The Golden Hurricane had no answer for Wilford, who turned in perhaps the best single set of her career with seven kills and two solo blocks. She helped Wichita State cruise home with a 4-0 spurt that extended the WSU advantage to 24-13, followed one point later by a Tulsa attack error that secured the set and a 2-0 lead.
Tulsa (11-11, 4-7) opened the third set with three consecutive blocks for a quick 3-0 edge, but Wichita State erased the deficit with a lightning-quick 5-0 run that featured two aces from
Morgan Weber. Tulsa never got the lead back, thanks in large part to the efforts of Foster. The junior middle scored seven times on her nine swings, highlighted by a stretch of three in a row that expanded the cushion to 19-11. Kills from
Izzi Strand and
Morgan Stout down the stretch kept the Golden Hurricane rally at bay and Rohling put a bow on the proceedings with a powerful kill to secure the sweep.
Strand continued her excellent span of matches with 36 assists at a .429 set percentage, adding five kills and 10 digs. Wilford led all scorers with 13 kills, joined in double-digits by Foster with 11. Stout hit .500 on her nine terminations, and Rohling chipped in eight of her own.
The Shockers take their winning streak on the road next week, squaring off against Florida Atlantic on Friday night and Memphis on Sunday afternoon. First serve of Friday's match is scheduled for 5:00 pm CT.
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