Saturday Volleyball Recap

OU Falls At Duke

The University of Oklahoma suffered a 3-0 sweep at the hands of Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Saturday evening. The loss was the second in a row for the Sooners, who dropped to 9-4, while the Blue Devils lifted their record to 8-3. The straight set loss; 25-18, 25-15, 25-20, was the first of the season for Oklahoma.

Junior outside hitter Kierra Holst led the Sooners with 13 kills, while freshman middle blocker Marion Hazelwood finished second on the team with eight on a .316 hitting percentage.

Duke's Emily Sklar led all players with 16 kills and hit .467. Breanna Atkinson and Jeme Obeime each finished in double figures with 13 and 10 respectively. As a team, the Blue Devils hit .316 and held OU to .183.

Kelsey Williams collected 39 assists and added eight digs for Duke, while OU junior setter Julia Doyle totaled a season-low 22 assists to go with nine digs.

Sasha Karelov led all players with 18 digs and chipped in with four assists for the Blue Devils. In her second straight start at libero, freshman Emma Kelly led the Sooners with a season-high 12 digs.

Oklahoma returns to action next Saturday, September 27 in its Big 12 opener against Kansas at McCasland Field House at 7:00 p.m.

TU Sweeps McNeese State

The University of Tulsa volleyball team swept McNeese State (25-18, 25-13, 26-24), as Erica Bohannon finished with a match-high 11 kills, while Valerie El Houssine notched another double-double (10 kills, 14 digs) and Brooke Berryhill added 24 digs to lead the Hurricane to a perfect weekend at the Golden Hurricane Classic.

"It was great to be at home and get two matches under our belt at home, and win a tournament," said head coach Ryan Wills. "It's a good start. To win in three against a team that has won nine matches this year, that's a good thing for us."

The match was all TU, who held its opponent's hitting percentage to just .075. The Hurricane were very strong defensively, racking up 62 digs on the night.

Tulsa used the home court advantage to jump out to a fast start for the second night in a row, taking an early 9-3 lead. The Hurricane would keep the pressure on, as El Houssine and Bohannon would help give TU a 16-10 lead, recording two kills each in that span. TU would take its biggest lead of the set, 20-12, thanks to three MSU errors, before Bohannon finished off the set on a kill that was set up by one Bailey Clampitt's 30 assists on the night.

The second frame proved to be one of the most lopsided sets of the season in favor of TU. The Hurricane raced out to an early 15-5 advantage, forcing the visitors to use both of its timeouts. MSU would only get within seven the rest of the frame, as the Hurricane handily took the first set. Tulsa forced its opponents to a mere -.091 hitting percentage in the frame.

"The first two sets, we were rolling pretty well," said Wills. "We were serving and passing well. Our serve-receive was as good as we've had it all year, and that's why we were able to wins those first two sets pretty handily."

The final stanza looked to follow a similar trend, when TU ran out to a 15-9 lead, forcing the MSU to call a timeout. It looked to be another quick set with the score 24-20 in favor of the Hurricane, however, McNeese State rallied off four-straight points to even up the match. TU would not allow the visitors anymore as Bohannon and El Houssine ran off two-straight kills to give the Hurricane its first home sweep of the year.

Tulsa concludes its preseason tournaments and will now open up conference play next weekend against USF and UCF at the Reynolds Center.

"I feel like we've improved over the course of the preseason tournaments," said Wills. "We went through a little adversity, we came out on the other side, we've gotten better, and that's the one thing we asked of them. Now we've put ourselves in position where it's time to go compete for 20 matches in conference, and we're excited about that opportunity on Friday."

ORU Downs McNeese State

Oral Roberts University broke a four-match losing streak in dominant fashion on Saturday morning with a 3-0 sweep of McNeese State at the Golden Hurricane Classic. ORU ends non-conference play with a 6-7 record

THE BASICS

Score: Oral Roberts 3, McNeese State 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-22)

Records: McNeese State – 9-4, Oral Roberts – 6-7

Location: Reynolds Center – Tulsa, Okla.

TURNING POINT

ORU scored five straight points midway through the 1st set, including two Maggie DiPronio aces, to take a 16-10 lead. Though none of the three sets were runaways, the early run fully established ORU's dominance.

THE LEADERS

Oral Roberts: Sara Pope led all players with 14 kills, and she did so while hitting a season-best .429. Pope added 13 digs, also a team high, for her fourth double-double of the season.

McNeese State: Rachel Cagnina came off the bench to smash 12 kills.

1ST SET – ORU, 25-22

DiPronio keyed the 5-0 run that put the Golden Eagles in the driver's seat. McNeese tried to rally, fending off three set points, before Laura Milos busted a kill to clinch the early lead.

2ND SET – ORU, 25-21

McNeese rallied from a four-point deficit to tie it up at 18-all, forcing an ORU timeout. But Pope and Milos took control of the set, with each player blasting two kills as part of a set-ending 4-2 run.

3RD SET – ORU, 25-22

McNeese held a 16-13 lead before the Golden Eagles took control with a 4-0 run. Milos and Pope each had kills as part of the rally, and ORU never trailed again