SMU middle blocker Natalie Peters gets a piece of the spike by Tulsa’s Beth Hodge. (Stuart Palley)

The monkey on the back of the SMU volleyball team grew to the size of King Kong on Tuesday.

The Mustangs had lost 18 of their last 22 matches against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane going into the Conference USA opener for both teams at Moody Coliseum. SMU was coming off a third-place finish at the Magnolia Invitational in Oxford, Miss., last weekend and was hoping to keep its momentum going against the defending conference champions.

Tulsa (11-1) wouldn’t have it, though, and the Golden Hurricane held off the resilient Mustangs in the fourth set for a 3-1 victory.

It was the Mustangs’ third contest against a 2007 NCAA Tournament team in its last four matches. SMU (6-5) prevailed in one of those matches-a five-set thriller against Georgia Tech at the Magnolia Invitational. The Mustangs and Golden Hurricane square off again in the season finale Nov. 16 in Tulsa.

On Tuesday, the Golden Hurricane seemingly won every key point, got every key block and was in all the right places.

A key sequence came with the match tied 1-1 and Tulsa leading the third set 19-15.

SMU’s Natalie Peters made a desperate save, poking the ball over the net from her knees, and later registered a kill to give SMU the point and inject energy into the home crowd. However, a Sidney Stewart serving error on the next point took the wind out of the Mustangs’ sails, and they lost the set 25-20.

After a Mustang service error that broke a tie midway through the fourth set, Tulsa head coach Ed Allen turned to an assistant and remarked, “we’re lucky.”

Indeed, the Golden Hurricane was fortunate for the gifts given by the opposition. SMU had 12 service errors and only two aces. The final Mustang error put the Golden Hurricane ahead 24-23 in the fourth set. A Beth Hodge kill on the next point ended the match.

The Golden Hurricane frustrated SMU by finding holes in its defense and contesting the Mustangs at the net. SMU hit only .171 and committed 24 attack errors – 10 more than Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane had seven team blocks, seven service aces and hit .229.

Tulsa hit .280 in the first set and forced the Mustangs to a zero hitting percentage. The Golden Hurricane won the set 25-15, only to have SMU rebound for a 26-24 victory in the second set.