Owls Fall in American Quarterfinals Against Tulsa

Friday, November 21

Tampa, Fla.

7:30 p.m.

Florida Atlantic

19-11,10-6American

Tulsa

23-6,12-4American

Fla. Atlantic

Tulsa

11/22/2025 12:17:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. – The No. 6 Florida Atlantic Owls fell in four sets in the American Tournament Quarterfinals against No. 3 Tulsa, 3-1 (25-17, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19), on Friday in Tampa.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Owls held the 9-7 advantage early, capped off by a kill from Libby Ashline. After battling through three ties to a 12-12 stalemate, Tulsa produced a 5-1 run, taking a 17-13 lead, sparking a pair of timeouts from the Owls. Florida Atlantic kept things within five at 21-16, but the Golden Hurricane closed the frame on a 4-1 run to take the opening set, 25-17.

FAU opened the second on a 7-4 run, capped off by back-to-back kills from Kayla Richardson and Olivia Hart. Tulsa responded, going on a 9-1 run to take its first lead of the set, forcing an FAU timeout. The Owls cut the deficit to four off a kill from Richardson out of the break, 13-9, staying with the Golden Hurricane through 15-11, but Tulsa outscored the Owls 10-6 through the remainder of the set to take the second 25-17 and the two-set lead.

Tulsa opened the third on a 6-2 run to force an early FAU timeout. The Golden Hurricane extended the lead to seven at 13-6 to spark the Owls' second and final timeout of the third. Out of the break, the Owls started to rally, outscoring the Golden Hurricane 13-7 to cut the deficit to one and force Tulsa to call a timeout. Emsley Venard knotted things up at 20-20 out of the break with an ace. The Owls eventually closed out the set after capping off a 13-3 run to take the 25-21 win and send the game to a fourth set, 2-1.

The Owls kept the fourth close, battling through a 9-7 Tulsa advantage to open the set, however, the Golden Hurricane started to break away once more, holding a 13-8 lead as the Owls called their first timeout of the fourth. FAU went on a 3-0 run off a kill from Maggie Allred and a pair of Tulsa errors to cut the deficit to two, 13-11. However, Tulsa responded with an 8-2 run to extend its lead to eight at 21-13. FAU tried to rally once more, scoring three unanswered off a block from Richardson and Allred and another pair of Golden Hurricane errors, 21-16, but the Owls just couldn't close the deficit as Tulsa took the fourth 25-19 and closed out the four-set match, 3-1.

STATS & NOTES

Hart led the way for the Owls, tying a career-best 19 kills and hitting .298 in the match. Anna Hartman also posted double-figure kills for the Owls, tallying 10 kills and hitting .250 across the four sets.
Venard dished out a team-leading 25 assists, while Victoria Hensley tallied 20 assists.
Defensively, Isabelle Northam led the Owls' back row, recording a match-high 19 digs, and Allred led the Owls' block, posting four blocks in the match.

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