Sooners Drop Hard Fought Decision to USC

Dec. 4, 2009

Oklahoma 0, #15 USC 3 | Photos | Box: PDF | HTML

	1	2	3	4	5	F
Oklahoma	21	24	20	x	x	0
USC	25	26	25	x	x	3

Stat Leaders
Oklahoma	Statistic	USC
Fernanda (20)	Digs	Hillgren (21)
Barker (31)	Assists	Bateman (49)
Two players (10)	Kills	Jupiter (23)
Freudenrich (.353)	Hitting %	Williams (.714)
Two players (2)	Blocks	Two players (3)

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LOS ANGELES – The University of Oklahoma volleyball program put together a team effort in one of their best performances of the season but was unable to upset Southern California on Friday night.

In front of a crowd of 1,149, the Sooners fell in straight sets (-21, -24, -20) to the Women of Troy. Oklahoma finishes the season 18-12 overall.

Sophomore Suzy Boulavsky and junior Francie Ekwerekwu led Oklahoma with 10 kills each. Ekwerekwu hit .318 to pace OU, who hit .205 as a team. Freshman María Fernanda led Oklahoma defensively with 20 digs, while senior Bridget Laplante added 13 in her final game in crimson and cream.

Alex Jupiter was one of three USC players with double-digit kills. Jupiter had 23, while Jessica Gysin and Lau ren Williams added 10 each. Alli Hillgren contributed 21 digs.

Oklahoma jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after getting kills from Boulavsky, junior Sarah Freudenrich and sophomore Caitlin Higgins and aided from a USC attack error and block from Boulavsky and Freudenrich. The Women of Troy called timeout trailing and out of the break, Oklahoma extended the advantage to 8-2 before USC rallied to tie the set at 11-all after a 9-3 run. After Southern Cal took the lead at 12-11, the Sooners were forced to call a timeout. After the stoppage, Oklahoma regained a 14-12 lead on a kill from Higgins but the Women of Troy responded to take an 18-17 lead and never looked back to take the opening period, 25-21.

Oklahoma started the second set like the first, taking an early 5-1 lead. USC fought back but the Sooners kept them at bay going up 12-8 before the Women of Troy managed to come back to cut the margin to one at 14-13. OU led 15-13 at the set's media timeout. After USC once again cut it to 15-14, Oklahoma went up 17-14 and led 19-15 when USC called a timeout. The Women of Troy answered to tie the set at 20-all on three consecutive kills. The Sooners called a timeout to regroup and following the brief stoppage, the two teams traded rallies before USC reached set point at 24-23. After USC misfired on the serve, the Women of Troy got the aid of an Oklahoma attack error to win the set 26-24.

After the 10-minute intermission, the Sooners trailed 2-3 before Boulavsky tied the score at 3-all with the team's first kill of the set. Oklahoma took a 4-3 lead on a USC attack error and the two squads went back-and-forth before the Sooners went up 6-5 on a kill by Laplante. Boulavsky added a kill and another USC miscue gave OU a 9-5 lead caused a timeout by the Women of Troy. USC answered to score five straight to take a 10-9 advantage. A kill from Ekwerekwu tied the set again at 10-all and a kill from Higgins gave Oklahoma an 11-10 lead. The Sooners went up 18-14 only to see USC counter to trim the margin to one at 18-17. After Oklahoma called a timeout, the Women of Troy took the lead on two consecutive kills and a block to hold a 21-18 lead. USC added a kill and a service ace to take a 23-19 lead and never looked back to take the set 25-20 and the match, 3-0.