ORU Volleyball Falls To South Dakota In Five Sets

Oral Roberts University dropped the final two sets and suffered a 3-2 loss to South Dakota on Sunday afternoon at the DakotaDome. ORU falls to 7-8 (1-1 Summit League) with the loss.

THE BASICS

Score: South Dakota 3, Oral Roberts 2 (25-18, 21-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-13)

Records: South Dakota – 8-6 (2-0 SL), Oral Roberts – 7-8 (1-1 SL)

Location: DakotaDome – Vermillion, S.D.

TURNING POINT

South Dakota scored four straight points late in the 5th set, turning around an 11-8 ORU lead and grabbing control of the winner-take-all final period.

THE LEADERS

Oral Roberts: Laura Milos had her best performance of the last three weeks, with 24 kills and 15 digs. Kylie Johnson added her first 20-dig effort of the season.

South Dakota: Kendall Kritenbrink led the Coyotes with 24 kills. Riley Haug paced the defense with 17 digs.

1ST SET – SOUTH DAKOTA, 25-18

USD scored seven of the first nine points and controlled the opening set. An Audrey Reeg kill at set point gave the home team a seven-point win.

2ND SET – ORU, 25-21

Oral Roberts settled a very tight set by winning the final four points. Shelby Cox and Sadie Schaffner each had kills during the run, and the Golden Eagles clinched the set on a USD attack error.

3RD SET – ORU, 27-25

Milos stood tall in the 3rd set, killing off two South Dakota set points. When ORU got the opportunity to take the period, the freshman responded with another kill to give the Golden Eagles a two-point victory. ORU hit .349 and had 21 kills in the set.

4TH SET – SOUTH DAKOTA, 25-19

ORU hit .393 in the period but gave the set away with six service errors and two ball-handling mistakes. The last service error sent the match to a 5th set

5TH SET – SOUTH DAKOTA, 15-13

ORU built an 11-8 lead on a Nika Mostahinic kill but saw the lead evaporate on a four-point USD run. The Coyotes scored the final two points of the match to escape with the win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

- ORU hit .273, but the Coyotes posted a .274 hitting percentage in an offensively-minded match

- The Golden Eagles were hurt by 14 service errors

- Sofia Redden had her first career kill and two service aces in the match

- Mostahinic had her best day of the season so far, with 10 kills

- Lucija Bojanjac came up with 54 set assists

- Milos hit .339, while Schaffner chipped in nine kills and hit .368

- Jovana Poljasevic recorded eight kills and set a career high with six digs

NEWS AND NOTES

- ORU is now 1-2 all-time against South Dakota and 2-5 in the state of South Dakota

- Johnson's 20-dig performance is her best effort since collecting 22 against Sam Houston State on October 25, 2012

UP NEXT

ORU completes their road trip against Denver on Monday night at 8 p.m. CT