MACOMB, Ill. – The Oral Roberts University volleyball team
saw its quest for a perfect Mid-Continent Conference season come to
an end Friday night, as Western Illinois rallied from a 2-1 deficit
to claim a 3-2 (30-27, 18-30, 24-30, 30-19, 15-7) victory and hand
the Golden Eagles their first conference loss of the year.
Kim Snow led ORU (23-8, 10-1) with a match-high
16 kills and seven blocks while hitting .615. Snow did not record
an error in 26 total attacks. Ori Zuzic (Porec,
Croatia) added her 17th double- double (13 kills, 12 digs) of the
year, but it wasn't enough to over come a team attack percentage of
.158 and 11 service errors.
The Westerwinds (13-14, 8-3) took an early 1-0 lead, after
surviving nine ties and four lead changes before escaping game one
with a 30-27 win.
The Golden Eagles quickly responded in game two, as a pair of
Maja Devic (Split, Croatia) kills fueled a 7-1
spurt right out of the gate. The ORU lead would increase to nine
points when four straight WIU errors pushed the score to 13-4. The
visitors would cruise from there, leading by as many as 12 tallies
on four separate occasions including the final score of 30-18.
The Golden Eagles hit .283 as a team in game two, while also
holding Western to a .067 mark.
The defensive effort proved key for ORU again in game three,
limiting the home side to a .048 hitting mark as they forced nearly
as many errors (7) as WIU kills (9). The Golden looked to be in
control of the match at that point, as a 30-24 game three win gave
them a 2-1 match advantage.
Game four was tight through the early going, as five ties and
three lead changes produced a 13-13 tie just shy of the game's
halfway point. The Westerwinds then used a 6-1 run to gain a
five-point lead at 19-14.
ORU quickly closed to within two points at 19-17, but the home
side recorded the next nine tallies to open up a 28-17 advantage en
route to a 30-19 game four win.
Western's run then spilled over into game five as they raced out
to a 5-1 lead. Back-to-back kills by Zuzic and Jackie
Oliveira (Minas Gerais, Brazil) pulled the Golden Eagles
to within 6-4, but another 4-0 WIU spurt put them back to a 10-4
advantage.
ORU wouldn't get any closer than four points the rest of the way
as the Westerwinds completed their rally with a 15-7 game five
win.
The Golden Eagles hit -.053 in game five, registering more
errors (4) than kills (3). WIU, meanwhile, totaled seven kills and
only one error in the final frame, hitting .333 as a team.
Monqiue Houston had 16 kills for Western, while Jennifer
Alexander and Amy Sauerwein each reached the 20-dig mark with 29
and 20 picks, respectively.
Devic finished the match with eight kills, eight blocks, and six
digs, and Cris Alves (Sao Caetano, Brazil) paced
the ORU defense with 19 digs.
The Golden Eagles will close out their regular season schedule
tomorrow night when they visit UMKC for a 7:00 p.m. match.
-ORU-
