BROOKINGS, S.D. - The Oral
Roberts University volleyball team opened conference action with a
four-set win (28-26, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20) at South Dakota State in
the Frost Arena Friday evening.
The Golden Eagles improved to 7-4 on the season
and 1-0 in Summit League action, while the JackRabbits lost their
eighth-straight match and are now 1-8 overall and 0-1 in conference
action. ORU is now 2-1all-time against SDSU.
ORU was led by senior outside Danijela
Novakovic (Rijeka, Croatia) who posted 13 kills while senior
rightside hitter Jackie Oliveira (Minas Gerais, Brazil) picked up
her fourth double-double on the season and second-straight with 10
kills and a season-high 18 digs. Senior middle blocker JoJo
Souza (Sao Paulo, Brazil) also recorded double-digit kills with
12 and junior middle blocker Talita
Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) hit .400 on the night and led the
team with six block assists. Senior libero Carol
Garbato (Sao Paulo, Brazil) tallied a season-high 23 digs on
the evening.
The Golden Eagles out-hit the Jackrabbits .128
to .076 and they also out-killed (60-43) and out-dug (85-72) SDSU,
while South Dakota State out-blocked ORU (28-18).
ORU jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set of
the match before SDSU came back to within two points at 10-8.
Novakovic and Souza helped lead the Golden Eagles attack but the
Jackrabbits came back strong to tie up the match at 16-all. After
four more ties, the last at 26-26, senior outside hitter Janete
Ferreira came back with a kill to give ORU the set point and an
SDSU attacking error gave the Golden Eagles the first set
victory.
The Golden Eagles took a 10-6 lead in the second
set before the Jackrabbits came back with an 8-4 run to tie up the
set at 14. Both teams traded the next 14 points to keep the score
tied at 21 and ORU finished off the set with a 6-4 run and
Novakovic recorded the set point on a kill.
After falling in the third set, ORU found its
swing again as Oliveira and Souza led the attack to take the Golden
Eagles to a 15-10 lead. Souza continued to the lead ORU in the next
14 points and helped ORU keep a 21-18 lead. After two attacking
errors by SDSU, Souza came in for the kill to give the Golden
Eagles the set and match point.
ORU continues action Saturday at North Dakota in
the Benston Bunker Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. (CT).
-ORU-
