Sunday College Volleyball Recap

Oklahoma's Big 12 Win Streak Snapped at Iowa State

AMES, Iowa – Returning to the site of its last conference loss in 2013, the University of Oklahoma volleyball team came up short in a 3-1 loss to Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. The loss snapped an eight-match win streak in Big 12 contests for the Sooners, who dropped to 12-5 overall and 3-1 in league play.

The Cyclones (9-6, 2-3) won the first set 25-22 and were even with Oklahoma, which won the second 25-20, coming out of the break. Iowa State took the third 25-21 and staved off a fifth set by surviving five set points for the Sooners and claiming the frame 28-26.

ISU's Morgan Kuhrt led all players will 21 kills and added 11 digs for a double-double. Redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Madison Ward (Lawton, Okla.) led the way for OU with 17 kills on a .310 attack rate. She notched her team-leading sixth double-double of the season with a 12-dig effort.

Junior outside hitter Kierra Holst (Coppell, Texas) and freshman middle blocker Marion Hazelwood (Beach City, Texas) also ended in double figures for the Sooners. Holst notched 14 to go with seven digs, while Hazelwood tallied 11, hit .360 and provided three block assists.

Kuhrt's effort was supported by 14 kills, on a .355 attack rate, by Mackenzie Bigbee and 11 kills from Samara West. The Cyclones outhit the Sooners, .251-.231, for the match.

Suzanne Horner dished out 56 assists and posted 12 digs for Iowa State. Junior setter Julia Doyle (Plymouth, Minn.) guided the Oklahoma attack with 44 assists and registered her fourth straight double-double by chipping in with 11 kills.

Cyclone libero Caitlin Nolan led all players with 24 digs, while adding four assists. Junior libero Taylor Migliazzo (Kansas City, Mo.) led the Sooner defense with 19.

Oklahoma returns home for a pair of home games next week, beginning at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, October 15 against Texas Tech. On Saturday, the Sooners play Baylor at 7:00 pm following the OU football game. Admission for that match is free.

Notes:

- The Sooners have lost six matches in a row at Iowa State, where they have lost 18 of 20 sets played since 2009. The last OU win at Hilton Coliseum was a 3-0 sweep in 2008.

- In Big 12 play, Ward is averaging 4.31 kills per set and hitting .386.

- Ward has notched eight matches with 15 kills or more, including all four Big 12 matches.

- Doyle has recorded a double-double in all four Big 12 matches this season, has five overall on the year and 18 in her career.

- Oklahoma's last loss in Big 12 play came at Iowa State on November 9, 2013.

- The Sooners lead the all-time series with the Cyclones, 44-30, but now trail the series in Ames, 18-17.

Tulsa Volleyball Tops Houston in Five Sets, Wins Second Straight Match

TULSA, Okla. – Senior Valerie El Houssine recorded 21 kills and 21 digs, and sophomore Erica Bohannon added 20 kills to lead the Tulsa volleyball team to a 3-2 (25-16, 27-29, 23-25, 25-14, 15-12) victory over American Athletic Conference rival Houston Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The Golden Hurricane overcame a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets, and pick up its second straight victory to improve to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in The American. Sophomore Brooke Berryhill tallied 20 digs, and senior Bailey Clampitt recorded 53 assists and 12 digs for TU.

Kadi Kullerkann recorded a match-high 22 kills, and Natalie Keck had 23 digs to lead Houston, which fell to 9-9 overall and 1-5 in The American.

“It's always nice to come back from down 2-1 to win,” Tulsa coach Ryan Wills said. “We played really well in the fourth set. We sided out at 66 percent and held them to 53 percent in the fifth set. If you do that in any set, you're in a good spot. Brooke Berryhill did really well in serve-receive, maybe the best she's done all year, and that really helped stabilize some things as we struggled through other parts of our game. We did a much better job offensively, and on defense, we did decent job in holding them to .142. More than anything, I'm really happy with the way we competed.”

The Golden Hurricane trailed 3-2 early in the fifth set, but scored consecutive points to take a 4-3 lead, and later broke a 6-6 tie with three straight points. Tulsa extended its lead to 13-8, then withstood a UH rally that cut it to 14-12, to win the final point and close out the match.

Junior Ashley Hooper tallied 11 kills and freshman Ashton Anderson recorded 13 digs for the Hurricane, which hit .248 (63-23-161) in the match and totaled 84 digs, 9.0 blocks and five service aces. Houston hit .142 (58-32-183) with 68 digs, 10.0 blocks and five aces.

Tulsa used an 8-3 run at the end of the first set to break open a 16-13 lead to win 25-16. TU took the lead for good at 9-8 after a kill by El Houssine. The Hurricane hit .206 in the frame, tallied 19 digs and converted 11 of its 15 sideout opportunities, while holding the Cougars to a .049 attack percentage. El Houssine and Hooper each tallied five kills, and Berryhill added six digs.

The second frame featured 15 ties and five lead changes, as Houston hit .262 with 17 kills, while Tulsa hit .200 with 16 kills. The Hurricane led 19-17, before the Cougars scored four straight points to move ahead, 21-19. Following with three consecutive points, TU retook a 22-21 advantage. Houston then scored three straight, and the teams alternated points until a pair of UH kills ended the set, 29-27.

Houston scored the last six points of the third stanza to win 25-23. Tulsa took a 10-5 lead, and led 19-13, before the UH comeback. Bohannon tallied six kills in the set, while EL Houssine had four kills and four digs.

Tulsa came back to win the fourth set, 25-14. TU hit .429 with 14 kills and just two attack errors, while converting 80 percent (12-of-15) of it sideouts, and holding Houston to a .029 attack percentage. The score was only close at 3-2, just before the Hurricane scored four straight points. Leading 15-11, Tulsa used a trio of three-point runs to extend its lead to 23-13, on its way to scoring 10 of the final 13 points of the frame. El Houssine led TU with six kills and five digs to help Tulsa force the deciding set.

The Golden Hurricane is back in action Wednesday when it plays host to American Athletic Conference rival SMU at 7 p.m. at the Reynolds Center.

ORU Finishes Strong to Down NDSU 3-1

TULSA, Okla. – After a sluggish start, the Oral Roberts University volleyball team was dominant in the final three sets to take a 3-1 (17-25, 25-13, 25-22, 25-13) victory over North Dakota State on Sunday at the Kenneth H. Cooper Aerobics Center.

It was a three-headed attack for ORU (9-10, 3-3); with Sara Pope (20), Nika Mostahinic (15) and McKenna Qualls (13) all reaching double digits in kills. The trio accounted for 48 of ORU's 56 kills and all three set new career highs with their respective totals. Mostahinic and Qualls posted double-doubles after leading the defensive effort as well with 15 and 12 digs, respectively. Kylie Johnson also got it done on the back row with 11 digs.

The Turning Point

In the second set, ORU fell behind 4-1 to start and trailed 7-4 before scoring the next seven points off the serve of Lucija Bojanjac to take an 11-7 lead. The Golden Eagles continued to pull away to win in dominant fashion, 25-13.

The Leaders

Oral Roberts: Sara Pope had 20 kills for the second time this season and the third time in her career, hitting .459 with just three errors for the match. Lucija Bojanjac had 47 assists and a pair of aces, accounting for two of ORU's eight total aces.

NDSU: Emily Miron had 12 kills and Emily Minnick added 10 for the NDSU attack. Emily Milligan led the way with 12 digs for the Bison.

Inside the Box Score

- ORU had nine errors and eight kills in the first set, but rebounded to hit .370 as a team in the final three. Including the first set, ORU hit .293 for the match, while NDSU hit just .136 as a team.

- ORU had 6.0 total blocks, with Shelby Cox having a hand in four of them, including one solo block. NDSU had 5.0 total blocks, including three from Emily Miron

News & Notes

- Nika Mostahinic set new career highs in kills (15) and digs (15).

- Sara Pope tied her career high with 20 kills. She first reached the 20-kill plateau against South Dakota State (Sept. 26).

- Pope's .459 attack percentage was also a career best. Pope had 20 kills with just three errors on 37 attempts.

- In addition to a team-high three service aces, which tied her career best, McKenna Qualls added a career high 13 kills.

Up Next

It is back on the road for ORU as they travel to Omaha (Oct. 17) and Western Illinois (Oct. 19) for a pair of Summit League matches next weekend.