University of Oklahoma Athletics

Volleyball Loses Season Opener In Three Sets

August 30, 2002 | Volleyball

By: Athletics Communications

Aug. 31, 2002

Oklahoma was unable to sustain any momentum and was swept in three sets by the Duke Blue Devils Friday night in the Loyola Marymount Invitational (Los Angeles, Calif.). Duke (1-0) earned their first win of the season with 30-24, 30-22 and 30-16 decisions over the Sooners who fell to 0-1 on the young season.

"I really feel like we match up evenly with Duke and Loyola Marymount when we play to our potential," said Head Coach Kalani Mahi. "Unfortunately tonight we battled inconsistency and didn't attack offensively at a high percentage."

Seniors Megan O'Connell and Denise Griffin had strong showings for Oklahoma. O'Connell had seven kills, one error and an attack percentage of .375. Griffin had eight kills, two errors and an attack percentage of .400. Sheena Werling, redshirt freshman, led OU with nine kills, which was offset by nine errors. Setter Jessica Barney, senior, had 23 assists and eight digs, both team highs.

Like their decreasing scores, the Sooners hitting percentage also dropped from set to set. In the first set they hit at .190, followed by .107, and finished with -.097. Duke had 12 service aces, OU had only four.

Oklahoma faces host Loyola Marymount today, Saturday Aug. 31 at 2.p.m (CDT) before taking on Bradley at 5 p.m. in the final game of the LMU Invitational.

For more information on the LMU Invitational check www.lmulions.com. For a box score of Friday's game go to /sports/w-volley/stats/083002aaa.html.

Oklahoma begins their home schedule Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. against Arkansas.

Other notes: This was the first ever meeting between Duke and Oklahoma... OU has lost two consecutive season openers, after falling to Louisiana-Lafayette in 2001... Oklahoma has never faced LMU or Bradley...Kalani Mahi coached at Bradley from 1992-1994...only one Sooner hails from California, freshman Jennifer Adams, who's hometown is Livermore... OU had 34 kills, as opposed to Duke's 36.

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