Aggie Defense Too Much for Oklahoma
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The University of Oklahoma volleyball team was unable to answer Texas A&M’s defense as the Aggies defeated the Sooners in four sets Wednesday evening at Reed Arena. A&M had 80 digs and held OU to a .156 hitting percentage, the Sooners’ lowest clip since hitting .149 against Nebraska on Sept. 29. OU fell to 17-7 on the year and 9-4 in the Big 12, while Texas A&M moved 12-11 on the year and 6-7 in league play.
Brianne Barker recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 34 assists and 11 digs. Barker added seven kills. Suzy Boulavsky had 12 kills, and Sallie McLaurin had nine kills and four total blocks. Oklahoma out-blocked the Aggies 12-10 but OU’s 65 digs weren’t enough to match A&M’s 59 kills.
Oklahoma scored the match’s first point on a kill from McLaurin and led 3-2 before Texas A&M rattled off three straight kills to jump ahead 5-3. OU answered to regain the lead at 6-5 and extended that out to an 11-8 lead before the Aggies fought back to cut the lead to one at 11-10. After OU scored two straight to lead 13-10, A&M cut it to 14-13 before another McLaurin kill brought it to 15-13 at the media timeout.
The Aggies scored out of the timeout to make it 15-14 and OU went up 19-15 on a block from Sarah Freudenrich and Barker. The Aggies out-scored OU 4-2 before the Sooners called their first timeout of the set, leading 21-19. The two teams traded points before Caitlin Higgins’ kill brought OU to set point at 24-21. An OU attack error gave A&M one point before Higgins put the set away, 25-22. McLaurin had five kills in the set, while Higgins, Barker and Boulavsky had three each. OU hit .341, committing just one unforced error.
After trading points to start the second set, A&M pulled ahead 8-7 and extended the lead to 15-11 at the media timeout. The Aggies never relinquished the lead in the set, winning 25-21. OU had just 10 kills during the set and 13 digs.
After a 5-all tie to start the third set, the Aggies scored six straight to go up 11-5 and force OU to call a timeout. The Sooners snapped the streak of seven straight A&M points on block by Barker and Francie Ekwerekwu. The Aggies led 15-7 before kills from Cortney Warren and Boulavsky started a 4-1 run for the Sooners to bring it to 16-11. A&M’s defense held strong not allowing OU drop a kill until Ekwerekwu connected to make the score 16-21. OU was unable to respond, dropping the set 25-19.
In the fourth, neither team was able to pull away with a lead until midway through the set. Morgan Reynolds put OU up 16-15 but the Aggies went on a 4-0 run to take a 19-16 advantage. After a timeout by Oklahoma, the Aggies went on to win the set 25-20 and the match, 3-1.
Oklahoma returns to action this weekend, traveling to Austin to face No. 8 Texas at 4 p.m. CT.
Texas A&M def. Oklahoma 22-25,25-21,25-19,25-20
Oklahoma (17-7 (9-4 Big 12)) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Boulavsky, Suzy 12-0-3; McLaurin, Sallie 9-1-4; Barker, Brianne 7-0-3; Higgins, Caitlin 6-0-3; Freudenrich, Sarah 5-0-3; Reynolds, Morgan 4-0-1; Ekwerekwu, Francie 2-0-4; Warren, Cortney 2-0-0; Totals 47-1-12.0. (Assists) – Barker, Brianne 34. (Dig leaders) – Fernanda, Maria 17; Williams, Eden 13; Barker, Brianne 11; Higgins, Caitlin 9 Texas A&M (12-11 (6-7 Big 12)) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Black, Kelsey 23-0-4; Hendrickson, Elise 10-1-2; Miller, Lindsey 10-0-7; Minnerly, Stephanie 7-0-1; Ringel, Chelsea 7-0-2; Sawatzky, Allie 1-0-1; Mellinger, Tori 1-0-0; Totals 59-1-10.0. (Assists) – Sawatzky, Allie 52. (Dig leaders) – Mellinger, Tori 24; Ringel, Chelsea 17; Black, Kelsey 15; Hendrickson, Elise 15 Site: College Station, TX (Reed Arena) Date: Nov 03, 2010 Attend: 1354 Time: 1:53 Referees: Steve Robb, Joan Powell
—www.SoonerSports.com—
Updated 11-04-2010
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