Sooners Sweep WVU on Senior Night

NORMAN – The Oklahoma volleyball team closed out its home slate Friday night with a sweep of West Virginia inside McCasland Field House.

The Sooners (18-8, 10-5 Big 12) earned their fourth sweep in Big 12 play and second in a row as they defeated the Mountaineers (11-16, 2-12 Big 12), 25-21, 25-17, 25-22. OU earned the season sweep of West Virginia, ousting them 3-1 on Sept. 28 in Morgantown.

"We've taken every day and have said that this is the most important day of the season right now," head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton said. "If you start to think ahead, quickly things can fizzle and so that was the message when we arrived at K-State. We were authoritative in that and it was awesome to see how we came out with a win there. Tonight, to follow up with the emotional recovery of what is senior night, and all in to play, it speaks to their maturity and something that we've been harping on here at the end. Those are the little things that are going to help us win the big matches in the post season."

The Sooners posted a season-high .373 hitting percentage in a three-set match as they notched 47 kills. Ashlynn Dunbar led the way with 13, while Sarah Sanders added 11. Paige Anderson swung .636 on the night with seven kills.

Setter Kylee McLaughlin dished out 40 assists, while adding five digs and four kills.

Defensively, the Sooners put up nine blocks, led by seven from Brianna Kadiku. OU recorded 46 kills to West Virginia's 44, including 15 from Keyton Kinley and 10 from Aysia Harty.

"Defense again," Gray-Walton said. "I think that it was the luck of the graphic that we put out and Brie and (Sarah) Sanders, that's a wall over there and people just can't get through it. Brie was seven blocks and seven kills, that's not a double-double, but seven blocks is a big time. And standing next to Sanders in two of the three rotations. As a coach, we talk about what other teams have in their gyms that can immitate what we do, and it's very difficult as an opponent to mimic our size and physicality. Those are things that we need to ride as our strengths and nothing else."

The Sooners took set one, 21-15. OU used a 5-0 run to take a 15-7 lead before the Mountaineers went on a run of their own to make it a three-point game at 18-15. A Paige Anderson kill would give OU set point and a WVU service error would clinch the set for the Sooners.

In set two, OU would jump out to a dominating 20-13 lead. A kill from Kadiku brought up set point and Dunbar would close it out with a kill for the 25-17 win. The Sooners swung .455 in the second set with 16 kills.

West Virginia used a 7-0 run early in set three to take a 13-10 lead. The Sooners would fight back to tie the set at 17-all before taking a 20-19 lead. A kill by Sanaa Dotson would clinch the set and the match, 25-22.

The Sooners will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 27, at TCU at 7 p.m. CT.

For updates, follow @OU_Volleyball on Twitter or like Oklahoma Volleyball on Facebook.

Players Mentioned

Paige Anderson

Ashlynn Dunbar

Aysia Harty

Brianna Kadiku

Keyton Kinley

Kylee McLaughlin

Sarah Sanders

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics