Sooners Win Five-Set Battle Against Texas Tech

Wednesday, November 9

Norman

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

14-10,4-8Big 12

Texas Tech

14-11,3-9Big 12

Texas Tech

Oklahoma

Photo by: Ty Russell

Sooners Win Five-Set Battle Against Texas Tech

November 09, 2022 | Volleyball

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NORMAN – A back-and-forth battle went the way of the Sooners as the Oklahoma volleyball team defeated Texas Tech, 3-2, Wednesday night.

The Sooners took the match, 25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 28-30, 15-13. OU was able to edge the Red Raiders despite only leading in two of the six major statistical categories – service aces (8-2) and digs (87-82).

"We're super excited about the momentum that we're continuing to build, not just in the win tonight, but we felt like it was a good, stacked day, win or lose," head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton said. "We could have walked away from this match feeling like we competed hard and had some really big moments from some players. So that's been the theme since the Baylor match. We felt like we were competing and playing hard, but we just hadn't been in that system of practice long enough."

OU has now won three-straight conference matches which is the best Big 12 win streak since the conclusion of the 2019 regular season. The Sooners extend its lead to 43-39 in the overall season and 24-14 at home. Under Gray-Walton, the Sooners are 6-4 against Texas Tech.

Offensively, a trio of Sooners notched double-digit kills including two with 20+ kills. Freshman led the way with a career-high 23 kills on the night, while sophomore Megan Wilson posted her first 20+ kills performance with 20 kills, just two away from matching her career-high. Freshman Alexis Shelton also added 17 kills on the night, which is one shy from matching her career-high.

Also, three Sooners earned double-doubles during their victory against the Red Raiders. Both Preston and Wilson posted 15 digs to go with their kill count. This marked Preston's third career double-double and Wilson's second on the season. Wilson is still second in the record books after adding five aces on the night, bringing her service ace total of the season to 49.

Sophomore Payton Chamberlain paced the offense with 54 assists and picked up her third double-double on the season and sixth overall with 14 digs. This marked Chamberlain's second 50+ assists performance for 2022.

Defensively, the Sooners tallied 87 digs with sophomore Callie Kemohah earned a season-high 26 digs, bringing her dig total for the season to 422, which is just one dig away from reaching the top 10 in the record books for a single season. Kemohah added a pair of service aces to bring her season total to 25, jumping to seventh in the record books.

Freshman Morgan Perkins led the team in blocks and blocks assists (five), while Shelton matched a career-high total blocks and block assists with four. After tonight's defensive performance, Perkins cracked the top 10 in block assists in a single season after bringing her block assists total to 94.

The Sooners and Red Raiders began the battle in Set One, going back-and-forth for half of the set, tied 10-10 at one point. OU went on a five-point run to extend its lead before the media timeout, 15-10. The Sooners would continue their five-point lead, 18-13, forcing a Texas Tech timeout. After the break, the Sooners used a 3-0 run to close out the set, 25-18, and taking a 1-0 advantage in the match.

OU continued the momentum, jumping to a 3-1 lead to begin the second set. The Red Raiders went on a 3-0 run to knot the match against the Sooners, 11-11. The Sooners took a two-point lead after kills from Preston and Shelton, but Texas Tech would take the lead 15-14, before the media timeout. Wilson posted a kill and service ace to take the lead, 19-17, forcing a Texas Tech timeout. The Sooners took the 2-0 advantage in the match after Preston closed out the second set 25-21 for the Sooners.

The fourth set was a slugfest in the beginning as the teams went back-and-forth, but Texas Tech held the lead or tied OU until going on a 2-0 run (16-15 lead) to force a Red Raiders timeout, 18-16. The Red Raiders would carry the momentum throughout the whole set to win the fourth-set thriller, 30-28, and force a fifth and final set.

OU came out firing on all cylinders in the final set, jumping to a 6-2 lead to force a Red Raider timeout. The Sooners kept their foot on the gas pushing the lead to 10-5, but Texas Tech chipped away after a 4-0 run to force a Sooner timeout. Preston gave the Sooners a two-point advantage, 14-12, after posting a career-high 23 kills. OU garnered the 15-13 set victory, earning its third-straight Big 12 match, 3-2.

The conference slate continues for Oklahoma volleyball at home to take on No. 1 Texas at 6 p.m. CT Saturday for the Red River Rivalry. Saturday's match against the Longhorns will offer a free giveaway of OU volleyball coolers while supplies last.

"So, testament to how we've been going through things and the behaviors that we've had, because then the outcome is 3-0," Gray-Walton noted. "We've really created a nice opportunity heading into this weekend being home for the Red River Rivalry and Texas being a top-ranked team. We've earned the opportunity to be in it on Saturday but tonight we're going to enjoy this."