OU Volleyball Sweeps Kansas State
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The University of Oklahoma volleyball team swept Kansas State on the road Wednesday evening. The Sooners (12-5, 4-2 Big 12) downed the Wildcats (9-8, 3-3 Big 12) in straight sets, -22, -23, -21.
Three Sooners tallied double-digit kill totals, led by Caitlin Higgins’ 12. Higgins added a season-high 15 digs for her third straight double-double and hit .333, her best performance of the season. Morgan Reynolds added 11 kills, hitting .368 and adding a block solo. Suzy Boulavsky hit .219 with 10 kills.
Brianne Barker also recorded her third straight double-double, tallying 38 assists and 11 digs. Sallie McLaurin led the Sooners at the net, dropping five total blocks including one block solo.
Both squads traded rallies early in the opening period. The Sooners opened a two-point advantage at 6-4 on a Higgins kill and expanded that advantage to 9-5 on a block from Morgan Reynolds and McLaurin to force Kansas State to call a timeout. OU tacked on two additional points out of the break and the Wildcats called their second break of the set. Out of the timeout, rattled off three straight points and rallied back to cut the Sooner lead to two at 14-12. After an OU timeout, the Sooners went on a 5-0 run to jump ahead 19-12 before Eden Williams broke her own serve with an error.
climbed back to within four at 20-16 and trailed by two at 22-20 on a service ace. The Sooners reached set point on a kill from Reynolds, but the Wildcats answered to cut the margin back to two at 24-22. McLaurin’s kill gave OU set point at 25-22.
Oklahoma trailed for the first time in the match when the Wildcats took a 4-3 lead. After trading rallies, OU tied the match at 5-all on a Francie Ekwerekwu and Barker block. Wildcats regained the advantage and led by as much as six before the Sooners cut the lead to three at 15-12 during the set’s media timeout.
The Sooners rallied to tie the set at 16-all and after trading the lead seven times, OU went reached set point on a Higgins kill. A kill from Reynolds put the set away, 25-23 and gave OU the lead into the intermission.
Neither team was able to pull away with a sizeable lead in the third set, combining for seven ties before OU gained a 9-7 lead. The Sooners held the lead but were never able to pull ahead by more than two until a Kansas State attack error put Oklahoma up 18-15. got the next two points to pull to within one at 18-17.
A Sarah Freudenrich kill and back-to-back service aces from Mindy Gowen put OU up 21-17 before called its second timeout of the set. OU led 22-17 on a kill from Higgins before the Wildcats scored two straight to cut the margin to 22-19 and force OU into a timeout.
Kills from Freudenrich gave OU match point at 24-20 and a attack error provided the final point to take the set, 25-21 and the match, 3-0.
The Sooners return to action Saturday evening against Missouri. First serve from McCasland Field House is set for 7 p.m. CT.
Oklahoma def. Kansas State 25-22,25-23,25-21
Oklahoma (12-5 (4-2 Big 12)) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Higgins, Caitlin 12-0-1; Reynolds, Morgan 11-0-1; Boulavsky, Suzy 10-0-2; Freudenrich, Sarah 7-0-0; McLaurin, Sallie 5-0-5; Ekwerekwu, Francie 2-0-2; Barker, Brianne 2-0-2; Fernanda, Maria 1-0-0; Gowen, Mindy 0-2-0; Totals 50-2-7.0. (Assists) – Barker, Brianne 38. (Dig leaders) – Higgins, Caitlin 15; Barker, Brianne 11; Fernanda, Maria 9 Kansas State (9-8 (3-3 Big 12)) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Pelger, Kaitlynn 14-1-3; Chisholm, JuliAnne 9-0-1; Ludwig, Kathleen 8-0-3; Muff, Alex 8-0-3; Kaufman, Dakota 3-0-1; Donahue, Caitlyn 0-1-0; Totals 42-2-6.0. (Assists) – Donahue, Caitlyn 36. (Dig leaders) – Mathewson, Lauren 14; Chisholm, JuliAnne 11; Donahue, Caitlyn 8 Site: Manhattan, KS (Ahearn Field House) Date: Oct 06, 2010 Attend: 1872 Time: 1:41 Referees: Marty Prochko, Dan Apol
Updated 10-07-2010
READER COMMENTS
