Oct. 22, 2005

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. -

Memphis-Tulsa boxscore in PDF Format
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Memphis (13-10; 5-2 C-USA)    23  30  14  30  9
Tulsa (19-3; 6-2 C-USA)       30  25  30  25 15

Sophomore middle hitter Shelby Burton downed a career-high 17 kills and junior libero Christen Clayton logged a career-best 23 digs, but Tulsa put up a 10-1 surge to end game five and claim a 3-2 win over the Tigers, Friday night in Conference USA action.

After extending the match to its fifth and final set, a pair of kills by Ashley Liford fueled a 4-0 run by Memphis to open the game. The Tigers led 8-5 when the two team changed sides of the court. From that point on, it was all Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane scored the next six points for an 11-8 cushion and, after a kill by Melissa Nance, finished the match off with a 4-0 push.

Memphis forced a fifth game by hitting .302 with 19 kills in game four. A 7-1 Tiger rally gave them a comfortable 19-11 lead. Memphis was able to cruise the remainder of the game for a 30-25 win.

Tulsa jumped out to an 11-4 advantage early n the opening set and maintained the seven-point lead until Memphis cut its deficit to three points on a 7-2 push that was capped by assisted blocks from Nance and Colette Ramirez. The U of M was unable to close the gap any further as Tulsa finished the game off strong, scoring six of the final eight points for a game-one win. The teams downed 17 kills and posted 16 assists each, but Memphis was held to just .196 hitting while TU hit .308.

Game two saw the Tiger rebound to even the slate with a 30-25 win. After holding the lead for much of the early part of the game, Memphis' lead was overcome by a 7-1 surge by the Golden Hurricane. However, the Tigers regained the advantage and took control of the game late at 24-20. Memphis, who hit .327 in the second frame, closed the game out with a 3-0 rally. The Tiger defense held TU to a .191 clip.

Tulsa regrouped to dominate Memphis in the third game. Down 4-3, the Golden Hurricane posted a 7-0 run to go ahead 10-4. Tulsa then scored 13 of the next 16 points to take total control of the game at 23-9. Memphis downed just six kills in the game, but also made six errors in 32 swings for a .000 attack percentage.

Liford led the Memphis offense with 18 kills, while Nancy Nellans recorded her 15th double-double with 11 kills and 20 digs. Nance added nine kills, a career-best 14 digs and five total blocks. Ramirez notched her fourth-straight match with double-digits in kills with 11. Laura Côtè had a double-double of 58 assists and 15 digs.

Tulsa held a 103-84 advantage in the digs department and posted nine more kills than Memphis.

Memphis will now prepare for a Sunday afternoon matchup with C-USA newcomer SMU. Match time is slated for 1 p.m.