Oklahoma volleyball falls to Texas Friday night
The Oklahoma volleyball team dropped a four-set match to the Texas Longhorns Friday night inside McCasland Field House, 25-14, 25-20, 27-29, 25-13.
"Definitely a smile under this mask tonight more than last night,” head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton said. “You don't like the pity set win but that's not what it was because we did show more of our identity in the second, third and even the fourth set. As a whole, defensively, we did a better job of making their attackers feel us at the net and behind. That was something we wanted to make an adjustment on and still something that's going to be a focus as we go into the rest of the season.”
OU narrowly trailed in digs, putting away 43 to Texas’ 48. Keyton Kinley led the Sooners defensively with 14 digs, while Aysia Harty and Grace Talpash each chipped in seven apiece.
The Sooners added 10 blocks on the night with Sarah Sanders getting in on five of them and adding a solo block. Kelsey Carrington got in on four blocks for the second game in a row.
Offensively, Texas out-hit the Sooners, .390-.152, with a 69-43 advantage in kills. Guewe Diouf led the Sooners once again with 18 kills on the night and added five digs. Sanders added 11 kills while Carrington and Sarah Maras each tallied four. Talpash notched 34 assists on the night to go with her seven digs.
“Something that we're going to work on daily is first ball kill,” Gray-Walton said. “We're in system enough, we need to be killing the ball at a higher clip. Texas is one of the best in the country at doing that and you kind of know where you stand and then you know the benchmark of what you need to work toward."
Texas took the first set 25-14. The Sooners put up a strong fight in set two, taking an 11-9 lead early on. The set would go back-and-forth with the teams even at 16-all. A Carrington kill pulled OU within 23-20, but Texas would use back-to-back kills to claim the set, 25-20.
OU took set three by a score of 29-27. The Sooners fell behind 3-0 early, but fought back to even things at 12-all. OU had match point at 24-20, but Texas scored four-straight points to tie the set. Facing match point, the Sooners used a huge kill from Diouf to keep the set alive and OU would score the final three points to earn the set win. Texas would clinch the match in the final set, 25-13.
"We made some adjustments,” Gray-Walton said. “We gave [Sarah] Maras the start tonight where Sanaa [Dotson] got it last night, kind of having a left side battle. In a year like this, let's see what happens. We need somebody to win that out. Guewe [Diouf] is out there dropping double-digits back-to-back nights in her first two matches and she hates that she didn't do better. She's got a competitive spirit. To see Tyler Alcorn come off the bench and really make her presence known, Sam Anthony can come off the bench and serve on a dime and score us points - I think the young ones are ready for the moment."
The Sooners will have a bye week before traveling to Waco, Texas to take on Baylor Oct. 8-9.
To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.