The Hurricanes move onto the Round of 32 with the win
The Miami Hurricanes volleyball team started its NCAA Tournament run Thursday afternoon with a four-set win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Round of 64.
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | |
| (5) Miami | 25 | 13 | 25 | 25 |
| Tulsa | 22 | 25 | 22 | 20 |
Yes, that’s the Hurricanes against the Hurricane. It won’t be mentioned again.
Miami came into the NCAA Tournament as a 5 seed after hoping to host the first two rounds in Coral Gables as a Top 4 seed in the bracket. Instead, the Hurricanes had to travel to Kansas and go into what was a mostly-Tulsa crowd (although the majority of those in attendance came to see the Jayhawks in the later game of the day).
Miami Starts Hot, But Tulsa Storms Back
Miami got out to an early advantage in Set 1, jumping to a 10-5 lead that Tulsa would never quite come back from the rest of that first set. The Hurricane pulled back within a point with a run midway through, but UM did a nice job keeping Tulsa from ever actually taking the lead before closing out the set, 25-22. Flormarie Heredia Colon recorded eight kills, but also three errors. Those mistakes continued into the second set.
After making an impressive comeback that fell short in the first, Tulsa didn’t get frustrated and dominated Miami in the second set. The Hurricane led 5-1 early and never let off the gas, looking like a completely different team than the one which started the match. Tulsa not only won the set 25-13, but also shut down Miami’s star in the process. Flormarie Heredia Colon recorded only three kills to five errors, and Tulsa’s Jill Hansen took the spotlight with an all-around performance throughout the dominant set. It looked like Tulsa had Miami figured out going into the third.
Canes Bounce Back In Crucial Third Set And Heredia Colon Locks In
Miami didn’t find its footing right away in the third set. Heredia Colon still had a few mis-hits early on and Tulsa stayed strong, getting out to a 14-9 lead. Then, Miami went on a 6-0 run to take the advantage back before a timeout and the Hurricanes never looked back. Heredia Colon found her groove and finished with 22 kills over the last two sets, both of them wins for the Hurricanes to close out the match.
Flormarie Heredia Colon finished the match with 33 kills and an uncharacteristic 17 errors, while Ariana Rodriguez led the team with 43 assists. Jill Hansen finished with 13 kills for Tulsa in the loss. Miami didn’t play its best game, but it played well enough to move on and face the winner of Kansas and High Point Friday night at 7 p.m. ET.
Leave a Reply