Box
Score
TULSA, Okla. �€" The Oral Roberts University
volleyball team won the 45th meeting with in-state rival Oklahoma
in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, rallying from a 2-1 defecit
before winning 3-2 (30-21, 25-30, 32-34, 30-24, 19-17) in front of
513 at the Cooper Aerobics Center. With the win, the Golden Eagles
improve their all-time lead in the series to 26-19.
Junior outside hitter Ori Zuzic (Porec, Croatia)
paced the ORU attack with 20 kills while adding 13 digs and three
total blocks. Freshman outside hitter Danijela
Novakovic (Rijeka, Croatia) chipped in with 16 kills and
hit a blistering .419 (16-3-31).
The Golden Eagles (9-7) came out firing in the first match,
connecting on 16 of 29 attempts in game one as they hit .517 en
route to a 30-21 victory. The Sooners (5-10) fired right back,
taking game two 30-25 and tying the match at one game a piece.
Game three turned into a seesaw battle, featuring 18 ties and nine
lead changes. A Novakovic kill put ORU ahead 29-28, but OU refused
to go away, forcing a tie at 29-29. The game would be tied twice
more before the Sooners coupled a kill with a Golden Eagle error to
win the game 34-32.
ORU came out strong again in game four, leading by as many as 11
(22-11) before holding off a late OU rally to win the game 30-24
and force a deciding game five.
Game five was another tight affair with 13 ties and six lead
changes. After fighting off match point twice, the Golden Eagles
still found themselves trailing 16-15 with OU having a third chance
to close out the match. But Novakovic responded with yet another
kill to bring it back to 16-16.
After the two teams exchanged points, a Kim Snow
(DeKalb, Ill.) kill made it 18-17 in favor of the home squad, and
Novakovic finished the match with her 16th kill of the night.
Snow had 13 kills for the match, while freshman rightside hitter
Jackie Oliveira (Minas Gerais, Brazil) recorded a
double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs.
Joanna Schmitt led the Sooners with 22 kills and teammate Hannah
Sharp had a match-high 18 picks.
ORU will now hit the road for a pair of weekend Mid-Con matches,
beginning with a Friday night match at IUPUI. The Golden Eagles
will finish off the road swing when they take on Chicago State
Saturday afternoon.
-ORU-
