Volleyball Falls at Missouri, 3-0

Nov. 11, 2009

Oklahoma 0, Missouri 3 | Box: HTML | PDF

	1	2	3	4	5	F
Oklahoma	22	20	18	x	x	0
Missouri	25	25	25	x	x	3

Stat Leaders
Oklahoma	Statistic	Missouri
Higgins (22)	Digs	Vann (15)
Barker (30)	Assists	Wang-Francisco (45)
Boulavsky (10)	Kills	Ampudia (21)
Ekwerekwu (.200)	Hitting %	Brimmage (.500)
Freudenrich (4)	Blocks	Two players (2)

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COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Oklahoma volleyball team was unable to stop one of the Big 12's best home-court advantages Wednesday evening, falling at Missouri in straight sets (-22, -20, -18). The Sooners (17-8, 10-6 Big 12) were never able to get into a rhythm against the Tigers (16-11, 7-8 Big 12).

Sophomore Suzy Boulavsky paced Oklahoma offensively with 10 kills. Junior Francie Ekwerekwu added nine. Sophomore Caitlin Higgins led the Sooners defensively with 22 digs, one shy of her season and career highs. Higgins also recorded eight kills.

Freshman Maria Fernanda and sophomore Brianne Barker each added 10. Barker also contributed 30 assists for her 19th double-double of the season. Junior Sarah Freudenrich aided with four block assists, while Boulavsky added three. Boulavsky had the match's only service ace.

After Missouri scored the opening set's first point, the Sooners took the lead at 2-1 and held the advantage until the Tigers clawed back to regain the lead at 14-13. MU took advantage of two Oklahoma attack errors to extend the margin to three and force the Sooners to call a timeout. The Tigers blocked down Higgins' attack attempt to go up 17-13 out of the break. Oklahoma broke Missouri's serve on a kill from Boulavsky only to see MU tack on two more points to lead 19-14. Back-to-back kills from Boulavsky and Freudenrich and a Tiger miscue pulled Oklahoma back to within two at 19-17.

After Missouri called a timeout, a block from Boulavsky and Freudenrich and two Tiger attack errors gave the advantage back to Oklahoma. The lead did not last long as the Sooners returned the errors to put the Tigers back on top. After the two teams traded rallies, three consecutive kills from MU gave the Tigers set point at 24-22. After Oklahoma called its final timeout of the set, the Tigers took the set on a kill from Paola Ampudia.

The Tigers took a 3-0 lead to start the second set. Oklahoma got the board with a kill from Boulavsky and Freudenrich, but MU capitalized on three straight kills to go up 6-1. Kills from Ekwerekwu and Barker and a block from senior Bridget Laplante and Ekwerekwu got the Sooners to within two at 6-4 but the Tigers responded again, stringing together five straight points to lead 11-4 and force OU to call a timeout. Missouri added two more points out of the break before Ekwerekwu's kill and a Tiger setter error finally gave Oklahoma its first points in seven rallies.

After trading points, Oklahoma finally managed to make a small dent in the lead, making it a five-point deficit at 16-11 on a kill from Boulavsky. After the Tigers got another kill to lead 18-12, the Sooners called their final timeout of the set. Out of the break, Oklahoma scored three straight to trail 18-15 – two points off kills from Ekwerekwu and another from a Tiger attack error to cut the margin to its lowest since MU led 6-4. The Sooners trailed by one at 20-19 in thanks to two Tiger service errors. Oklahoma then tied the set at 20-all after another MU attack error. After Missouri regained the lead at 21-20, the Tigers extended the advantage out to 24-20 and took the set on another kill from Ampudia.

Following the 10-minute intermission, the Tigers picked up where they left off before the break. Even after the Sooners got to within one after a block from Boulavsky and Freudenrich, the Tigers maintained a lead eventually taking a 13-8 advantage and extending that out to 17-11 before Oklahoma got three points to cut the margin to 17-14 off a kill and service ace from Boulavsky and an MU attack error. The Tigers then called a timeout and after the break, Ekwerekwu got a kill to pull OU to within two at 17-15. From there, the Tigers kept a buffer, leading 20-16 and never looking back to take the set, 25-18.

The Sooners continue the brief road swing Saturday morning, taking on Texas Tech at 11:45 a.m. in Lubbock.