Recap : Box Score : Cumulative Stats
PROVO, Utah -€“ The Utah Valley State volleyball team wouldn't go away, but Oklahomaeventually outlasted the Wolverines 3-1 on Saturday morning in the BYU/MizunoClassic.
UVSC beat Central Florida Friday night, and then had to play OU in the 10:00am game on Saturday. Head Coach Sam Atoa said his team didn't -€œbounce back-€ wellenough to win.
-€œWe just ran out of gas,-€ said head coach Sam Atoa. -€œIf we are going to be agood team we have to bounce back and be ready to play, even if we are playingan evening game one night and the morning game the next day. We didn't have theenergy that we had last night.-€
After OU beat UVSC 30-20 in game one, the Wolverines came back to take game two30-26. OU slipped by 30-26 in game three, and ended the match with a 30-17 winin game four.
UVSC was once again led by the offense of Deise Borghetti and Alina Wallauer,who had 18 and 16 kills, respectively. On the defensive side, the Wolverineshad a balanced attack as four UVSC players had double-figure digs. Chelsea O'Nealhad a match-high 18 digs, Lacee Koelliker and Wallauer had 13 digs apiece, andBorghetti ended the match with 12.
For the first part of game one, UVSC fought hard with OU only hanging onto a15-13 lead. Then came the Sooner surge, and an 8-1 OU run that seemed to takethe life out of the Wolverines. OU would score two for every one UVSC point therest of the way, and take the game 30-20. Wallauer hit .750 for the game withsix kills.
It looked like game two would start with another OU burst, as the Sooners tookan early 4-1 lead. But the Wolverines found life making a 9-3 run to take thelead 10-7. UVSC would hold that lead and eventually extend it to 21-14, pacedby Borghetti, who ended the game with seven kills. Another OU rush was boundto happen and it did as the Sooners made a 9-5 run, but the Wolverines fendedOU off in the end closing out the game 30-26. Koelliker had 14 assists in thegame.
Game three was back and forth throughout, as each team had leads no bigger thanthree points, until OU finally won by four, 30-26. UVSC took an early 7-5 leadwith two key dump attacks by Koelliker. The Wolverines would extend that leadto 17-14, but the Big 12 foe chipped away. Sooner sophomore outside hitter, JoannaSchmitt tallied five kills, pacing a 16-9 run to close out the game.
The Wolverines continued to be a thorn in the Sooner's side in game four. OUtook a commanding 14-4 lead, but UVSC cut the OU lead in half with a 8-3 run.The Sooners would extend their lead back to 10 points, and eventually win by13 to close out the match.
For OU, Schmitt notched 15 kills and 15 digs, and Gabriela Tonon added 13 kills.
UVSC will rest for two games and then come back to play in the 5:30 pm matchagainst Memphis. All of Saturday's games will be played in BYU's Smith Fieldhouse.
