SHREVEPORT, La. – The Oral Roberts University volleyball team
defeated Centenary, 3-0, (25-18, 25-22, 25-16) Sunday afternoon.
ORU picked up its sixth-straight conference win.
The Golden Eagles improved to 13-6 overall and 7-1 in Summit
League action, while the Ladies fall to 4-15 and 0-6 in conference
action.
ORU was led by freshman rightside hitter
Serena Cate (Yorba Linda,
Calif.) recorded a match high 12 kills and hit .455 on the night,
while senior middle blocker JoJo
Souza (Sao Paulo, Brazil) hit a match-high .625 to go along
with 10 kills. Senior outside hitter Danijela
Novakovic (Rijeka, Croatia) also added 10 kills and hit .556.
Senior setter
Juliane Vieira (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil) added 39
assists and senior libero Carol
Garbato (Sao Paulo, Brazil) registered nine digs.
CC was led by Erika Lunsford and Ashley Freeman, who both recorded
eight kills each, while the pair hit .500 and .438 on the
afternoon, respectively. Jaclyn Lopez added 23 assists and Kayla
Tibaldo tallied eight digs.
The Golden Eagles finished the match with a season-high .419
hitting percentage, while Centenary hit .132. ORU also recorded 17
more assists (43-26), 12 more kills (46-34), three more digs
(40-37) and two more blocks (7-5).
Centenary took off in the first set with a 13-10 lead before ORU
would go on a 6-3 run to tie up the set at 16-all, as Souza led the
ORU attack. The Golden Eagles would finish out the set on a 9-2
run, as Cate recorded two kills and Centenary committed six errors
in that stretch, the Ladies gave ORU the last two points of the set
on two attacking errors.
ORU took a 5-1 lead in the second with Novakovic leading the attack
and recorded three kills. After two CC attacking errors, ORU took a
six-point lead at 8-2, while the Ladies cut the lead to three on an
8-5 run. Souza and Cate continued to lead the Golden Eagles' attack
but Centenary would fight back to tie up the set at 19-19. After
two kills from senior outside hitter Janete
Ferreira (Sao Paulo, Brazil), ORU took a two-point lead at
22-20, while Souza added a kill to give the Golden Eagles a chance
at set point. A Centenary attacking error gave ORU the second set
win.
After trading the first six points of the third set, ORU took a
4-1 run to go up 10-7 as CC committed two errors and Vieira added a
kill. Sophomore libero Cassie Holmes (Tulsa, Okla.) took charge of
the ORU serve with two service aces to give the Golden Eagles a
15-9 lead. Cate and Souza continued their power hitting ways and
helped give ORU a 21-13 lead. Two more Centenary errors put the
Golden Eagles up 24-15 and Novakovic added the last point on a kill
for the ORU set and match victory.
After five matches on the road, the Golden Eagles return home for
the first time in October to host Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. on
Thursday, Oct. 16 in the Cooper Aerobics Center.
-ORU-
