Sooners Fall to No. 7 USC, 3-1

Sept. 4, 2008

Oklahoma 1, #7 Southern Cal 3 | Box Score: PDF | HTML

	1	2	3	4	5	F
#7 Southern Cal	25	25	25	25	x	3
Oklahoma	27	20	16	22	x	1

Stat Leaders
Oklahoma	Statistic	Opponent
Barnes/Laplante (16)	Digs	Hillgren (18)
Barker (32)	Assists	Carico (53)
Ekwerekwu (14)	Kills	Jupiter (19)
Barker (.385)	Hitting %	Jupiter (.389)
Disarro (11)	Blocks	Williams/Carico (4)

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LOS ANGELES - The University of Oklahoma volleyball team opened the 2008 Holiday Inn L.A. City Center Trojan Invitational Thursday evening facing seventh-ranked University of Southern California. After taking the opening set, the Sooners (1-3) dropped the next three to the Women of Troy (1-2) at the Galen Center.

Sophomore Chrissy Disarro's night was highlighted by career highs in four categories. Disarro led the blocking attack against USC with five block solos and six block assists. Her 11 total blocks is a new high for the Plano, Texas native. She was second on the team in kills with nine on the evening.

Freshman Brianne Barker also contributed with a season-high five block assists. Redshirt sophomore Francie Ekwerekwu led OU with 14 kills. Senior Lacy Barnes and junior Bridget Laplante led OU with 16 digs each. Junior Taylor Harbster also contributed a career-high 10 digs. As a team, the Sooners out-blocked the Women of Troy, 14-11.

In the opening set, USC jumped out to an early 5-1 lead before the Sooners rallied to take an 11-10 advantage following a block assist and kills from redshirt sophomore Francie Ekwerekwu and Barker. Laplante's kill gave OU the lead and forced the Women of Troy to call a timeout.

Out of the break, the Sooners led by as much as three, but USC kept the set close and eventually tied it at 22-all. Following the set's fourth tie, junior Jackie Fotu put OU up 23-22 but saw the Women of Troy take a 24-23 advantage after two kills from Alex Jupiter. Kills from Ekwerekwu and freshman Caitlin Higgins brought the Sooners to their first set point but USC denied OU with a kill from Jupiter, who then gave the Sooners their second set point following a service error. An attack error by the Women of Troy gave the Sooners the needed point to take the set, 27-25.

The second set mirrored the first during the opening rallies. The Women of Troy doubled up the Sooners at 10-5 before OU slowly chipped away to cut the USC lead to 14-13 and force the home team into a timeout. Oklahoma took their first lead of the set at 16-15 after an attack error by USC. The lead did not hold for long as the Women of Troy bounced back to take the lead and the set, 25-20. After out-blocking the Women of Troy in the opening set, 6-2, USC narrowed the margin in the second set with OU holding a one-block gain, 8-7.

Following the intermission, the third set was kept close by both squads until USC broke the set's 10th tie on a kill from Lauren Williams. After taking the 13-12 nod, the Women of Troy led by four before forcing the Sooners to take a timeout. Following the break, Southern Cal continued to put up points and went up by six at 20-14 before ultimately taking the set, 25-16.

The fourth set remained close until the Women of Troy broke away to take a 17-11 lead. OU stayed within reach following four consecutive kills - three from Ekwerekwu and one by Higgins and eventually cut the lead to 24-22. However, USC proved to be too much as the Women of Troy got one last kill from Jupiter to take the set, 25-22, and the match, 3-1.

OU returns to action tomorrow evening, facing another ranked opponent in #21 San Diego. The Sooners and Toreros face off at 7 p.m. CT. Live stats from the event are available at www.usctrojans.com.