Congrats, women! It's good to see volleyball is making a run this year!
Story:
For the first time in the history of the Red River Rivalry, the Oklahoma volleyball team knocked off No. 8 Texas with a five-game win (30-28, 30-21, 31-33, 26-30, 13-15) Wednesday night inside the Howard McCasland Field House. A crowd of 780 fans watched the Sooners beat their first ranked team since 1998 and earn their first-ever win over the Longhorns in the series.
“This is a great win for our program,” head coach Santiago Restrepo said. “I’m so proud of our girls’ effort tonight and the way they battled through adversity to beat a very good Texas club tonight. This is an excellent win for our program and our girls did a great job of keeping the intensity up through the entire match.”
It was a battle for the ages as there were 44 lead changes in the entire match and the Sooners were behind in every single game they played. Just as they have in every match they have won this season, OU took the first game of the match in a close 30-28 battle and used a 10-5 run at the end of the second game to jump out to a 2-0 lead over the Longhorns.
The Sooners looked as if they were going to pull off the sweep in the third game as OU tied it up three different times after 28-28, but Texas scored the final two points to claim game three, 33-31.
In the fourth frame, UT took control of the match and won 30-26 as the match came down to the deciding fifth game. Texas jumped out to the 11-10 lead but OU went on a 4-0 run as the score was 14-11. After two Texas points, the Sooners clinched the game and the match with a Laura Tomes kill.
The Sooner defense was key in OU’s historical win as it held UT to a .137 hitting percentage while recording 18.5 team blocks at the net against the Horns. Highlighting the defense was libero Anna Monsen who set a school record with her 30 digs against the Longhorns. The previous high for a five-game match was 26 set by Monsen last year against Texas Tech.
At the net, senior middle blocker Eliane Santos was dominant with her record-tying 10 block assists while freshman Bridget Laplante added six block assists and Tomes and senior Joanna Schmitt added four a piece.
OU’s offense was in high gear Wednesday night as Schmitt guided the Sooners with a season-high 24 kills while Laplante was impressive in rookie debut against the Horns with 20 kills. The offense set a five-game rally scoring record with 80 kills on the night and it was largely due to setter Rachel Jackson’s efforts with her record-breaking 73 assists in the match.
Adding consistency to the OU offense was Tomes who tallied 14 kills on a .346 hitting percentage while senior Eliane Santos led the squad with her .361 clip with 15 kills.
“It was a great win for us, but we now we play a tough team in Colorado this week and we must be prepared for them,” Restrepo said. “This was fun, but we are we looking to our next opponent.
The Sooners will hit the road this weekend for a match against Colorado in Boulder, Colo., this Saturday at 8 p.m. (CST).
Originally Posted by badger
