WVU Drops Big 12 Match to OU

Saturday, October 8

Morgantown, W.Va.

6:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

10-9, 2-4

Oklahoma

9-9, 2-3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Oklahoma	19	25	25	25	3
West Virginia	25	23	22	22	1

Shreve-Main-100816.jpg

October 08, 2016 08:53 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Oklahoma Sooners

9-9, 2-3

Final

West Virginia Mountaineers

10-9, 2-4

Final Stats

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite 16.5 team blocks on the night, the West Virginia University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 league match to Oklahoma on Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers (10-9, 2-4) fell to the Sooners (9-9, 2-3) in set scores of 25-19, 23-25, 22-25 and 22-25.

“We played a lot better tonight than we did last night,” said WVU coach Reed Sunahara. “We made some good plays, but not enough. We've got to keep getting better.”

Hannah Shreve had a team-high 10 blocks, adding a trio of kills to the scoresheet. Morgan Montgomery notched seven blocks with four kills and a pair of aces, while Mia Swanegan added five blocks.

Payton Caffrey registered her ninth double-double of the season with 18 kills and 12 digs. Katelyn Evans was the only other Mountaineer in double figures with 10 kills, though Swanegan added nine to go with a trio of service aces.

Erin Slinde assisted on 19 of WVU's 48 kills, hitting a team-best .300 with four kills. Haley Roe added 17 assists and an ace, while Gianna Gotterba dug a team-high 21 balls. Taylor Cross and MaTia Hughes each finished with seven digs.

West Virginia finished the match hitting .116 with 48 kills, 16.5 blocks and 72 digs.

The Mountaineers hit .275 to the Sooners' .075 behind seven kills from Caffrey in the first set. A pair of kills each from Caffrey and Slinde put WVU up, 6-3, before a 3-0 run made it 12-7. Back-to-back blocks by the Sooners helped a 4-0 run that brought them within one, as WVU kept a 12-11 advantage. Swanegan and Caffrey and Swanegan found the court to bring up set point before Swanegan buried the ball for the 25-19 WVU win.

West Virginia battled in the second set, but made several errors down the stretch as OU tied the match. Consecutive kills from Evans made it a slim 7-6 Mountaineer lead. After the Sooners evened the score, Caffrey found the court on back-to-back rallies for a 12-10 lead. The squads traded points before a 3-0 run put the Mountaineers on top, 19-16, and forced Oklahoma into a timeout. However, the Sooners came out of the stoppage to tie the set on a block, 20-20. After a Montgomery ace tied the set at 23-23, a kill and a WVU error ended things in favor of OU, 25-23, to tie the set 1-1.

Despite four kills from Swanegan, the Mountaineers faltered in the third set as the Sooners took a 2-1 lead. Back-to-back OU errors and a Swanegan ace helped WVU take an 8-6 lead before Montgomery and Shreve teamed on a pair of blocks to make it 13-8. However, a 7-0 Sooner run midway through the set gave OU the 14-13 advantage. The set went back-and-forth from there before a Caffrey kill put the Mountaineers on top, 20-18. After Shreve and Evans posted up for a block and a 22-21 lead, OU scored four straight to win the set, 25-22.

The Sooners raced to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set. Swanegan paired with Montgomery, then Slinde on blocks to bring the Mountaineers within two, down 10-8. Montgomery later teamed with Shreve on a pair of blocks as WVU rattled off five straight to take a 14-12 lead on a Roe service ace. A late 5-0 run by the Sooners provided separation as OU took a 22-18 lead. Evans and Swanegan paired for a block before a solo stop by Evans brought WVU within two, down 23-21. A Swanegan service aces made it a one-point deficit, but the Sooners took the last two points for the 25-22 win and the 3-1 victory in the match.

West Virginia travels to Moon Township, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday to close out its nonconference slate at Robert Morris. The match is slated for a 6 p.m. start.