Sooners Secure Third Straight Victory

(19-8, 8-4)

	1	2	3	4	5	F
Oklahoma	25	23	25	25	-	3
Baylor	21	25	23	23	-	1

Box Score

(17-10, 4-8)

Team Statistics
Stat	Oklahoma	Baylor
Kills	55	59
Assists	52	57
Digs	77	75
Blocks	9.0	11.5

Individual Leaders
Stat	Oklahoma	Baylor
Kills	Reynolds (14)	Two with 13
Hitting%	Whitley (.462)	Nora (.360)
Assists	Doyle (42)	Harris (50)
Digs	Fernanda (29)	Ogden (20)
Blocks	McLaurin (6)	Nora (8)

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NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma volleyball team secured its third straight victory against Big 12 foe Baylor in a four-set contest (25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23) Wednesday night in Waco, Texas. The victory also marked the third series sweep for the Sooners as they have now taken both sets of 2012 victories against Baylor, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

“It's one thing that we talked about, and have talked about all season long – we have to put together wins,” explained Sooner head coach Santiago Restrepo.

“We had a great opportunity with our schedule to put together these wins, and we did just that.”

With the win, OU improves to 19-8 on the year and 8-4 in conference action, while Baylor drops to 17-10 on the year and 4-8 against Big 12 opponents.

It was quite a show in the Ferrell Center, as the Sooners claimed the first set, dropped the second, and battled back in the final two to take the 3-1 win.

Oklahoma recovered from a 0-6 deficit to start the first set, and caught its break after the team tied it up, 18-18 heading into the final minutes. The team gained its first lead at the 21-20 marker and battled until the end after Baylor held off set point. It was Grace Whitley that secured the 1-0 match lead, 25-21, with one of her seven kills to capture a vital first set victory.

Three Sooners combined to knock down double-digit kills against the Bears in Morgan Reynolds, Sallie McLaurin and Tara Dunn.

“Offensively, Morgan came through for us tonight,” remarked Restrepo. “She put her best effort when it counted, in clutch time, and it pushed our team through at the conclusion of those last two sets.”

Reynolds struck down a team-high 14 kills, to mark the 11th time this season that she has led the Crimson and Cream in the respective category. In addition to her presence on the front line, Reynolds added a season-best six digs and two blocks.

Dunn and McLaurin added 11 and 10 kills of their own, respectively.

Defensively, McLaurin contributed a team-high six blocks off of one block solo and five block assists.

In addition to the offensive output, the match saw senior libero Maria Fernanda match her own OU individual four-set match record with 29 digs – a season-best output for the Sooner veteran. With 29 digs, Fernanda recorded the eighth 20-plus dig performance of her senior campaign, and 43rd of her career in the Crimson and Cream.

“She had a great, game. She is just a fantastic volleyball player,” explained Restrepo. “She did what she needed to do tonight - she set the ball well and defended well.

“It's a shame she just couldn't get that 30th dig tonight.”

With the total Fernanda, Oklahoma's career-digs leader, now holds 2,091 to her name. Currently, she needs just 19 more digs to surpass Baylor's Allison King (2008-11), for the second-place spot in the Big 12 record books.

Following Fernanda's lead was freshman setter Julia Doyle who inked the eight 40-plus assist of her career with 42 against the Bears. The Plymouth, Minn., native was just one dig shy of a double-double after she totaled nine on the night. A consistent dual threat on the court, Doyle added five kills off of nine attempts with just one error to hit .444 against the Bears, and added two service aces for the Sooners.

Oklahoma returns to its home court at McCasland Field House Saturday afternoon against No. 20 Iowa State. First serve is set for noon. Doors will open at 11 a.m. CT, and admission is free for all those wishing to attend the match. The first 250 fans admitted into the Field House will receive free roller banners.