#2 Texas Continues to Dominate Rivalry With Oklahoma

MATCH STATS

• No. 2 Texas Defeats Oklahoma (25-22, 25-19, 25-15)
• Team’s Record: Texas (17-2) (9-0 in Big 12), Oklahoma (12-10) (3-6 in Big 12)
• Schedules: Texas here, Oklahoma here

RECAP 

The No.2 – ranked Texas Longhorns remain undefeated in the Big 12, sweeping their home match against the Oklahoma Sooners in Gregory Gym. Although these two teams are long-standing conference rivals, Texas clearly has the leg up in volleyball, leading the series 47-4. The Longhorns’ last loss to Oklahoma was in 2014.

The match stats back up the straight-set victory for Texas. The Longhorns led in kills 44 to 38, hitting percentage .350 to .183, digs 44 to 43 and blocks 9 to 2.5.

The player of the game for the Longhorns was freshman Micaya White. She pounded 14 blocks, 2 service aces and 2 blocks. Supporting White on offense was Ebony Nwanebu and Paulina Cerame with 9 kills each. Nwanebu also had 2 blocks. Chloe Collins aided the offense with 36 assists to go along with her 8 digs.

Oklahoma relied on sophomore Alyssa Enneking, who had 11 kills and 6 digs. Red-shirt sophomore Rachel Manriquez had a strong showing on defense, leading the match in digs with 14. Madison Ward was just behind Manriquez with 13 digs.

No. 2 Texas has a big match coming up, when they travel to the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks this Saturday, October 29. The match is set to start at 6:30 p.m., and it will be broadcasted live on ESPN3. The Sooners will also return to action this Saturday when they take on TCU at 12 p.m.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Texas Athletics:

AUSTIN, Texas — No. 2 Texas Volleyball picked up its second sweep of the Big 12 season over the Oklahoma Sooners, 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-15), inside historic Gregory Gym on Wednesday night to move to 17-2, 9-0 on the season.

Freshman Micaya White led the way for the Longhorns with 14 kills complimented by nine digs and a season-high tying two aces.

Junior Ebony Nwanebu totaled nine kills that came on 15 swings and a .600 hitting percentage, while senior Chloe Collins had a game-high 36 assists as well as a career-high tying three aces.

As a team, Texas hit .350 while holding Oklahoma to a .183 hitting percentage. This marks the fourth-straight time the Horns have held their opponent under the .200 mark. The Longhorns dominated the net, outblocking the Sooners 9 to 2.5.

With the win, the Horns pick up their second Big 12 sweep of the season. Texas leads the all-time series against Oklahoma, 47-4, and has not lost a match to Oklahoma since the 2014 season.

Oklahoma held the early 4-1 lead in the first set, but the Texas offense battled back with strong hits from the outside to tie things at eight apiece. The Horns slowly forged ahead, piecing together a three-point run in the heart of the opener, to make the score 15-12 at the first timeout. The Sooners capitalized off Longhorn errors to get within one, but two straight kills from White and sophomore Yaazie Bedart-Ghani forced an Oklahoma timeout with Texas leading 18-15. The Sooners captured five of the next seven points to even things at 20, but the Longhorns finished strong with a closing double block from Bedart-Ghani and Collins to take set one, 25-22.

Texas dominated the second set, taking the 7-3 lead after Collins snuck a kill into the back corner of the court. The Sooners rattled off the next four points, tying things at seven headed into a Longhorn timeout. Things evened out three more times until the Horns went on a 6-1 run, including White’s second solo block of the night, to lead 16-11. Texas found its defensive footing behind the pair of Nwanebu and sophomoreMorgan Johnson, who together added two blocks, and continued to push ahead to as many as eight points. Oklahoma scraped together a 4-0 rally late in the set to get within striking distance, but the Horns pocketed the last two points to take the second, 25-19.

Things squared off at four each in the third set, but a 3-0 rally from the Horns, capped off with a service ace from White, handed them the 7-4 lead. Oklahoma answered with a 4-1 push of their own to even things at eight, but six straight from Texas, including three aces from Collins, gave Texas control of the set, 14-8. From there, the Longhorns never let the Sooners within five points of the lead, ending the match to the tune of 25-15.

The Horns will hit the road next as they travel to Lawrence, Kan. to take on the No. 6 Jayhawks on Saturday, Oct. 29. The first serve is set for 6:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcasted live on ESPN3.

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Jerritt Elliott

On today’s game: I’m really pleased with the things that we saw today, we had a couple of runs that we gave up here and there, but defensive numbers were significantly better. I think it’s the best defense that we’ve played all Big 12 and we were getting touches and getting transition points. If we can play that kind of defense, then we can put a lot of pressure on teams and I think we were able to sustain that through game three. It was nice to see that way we played.

On turning it around after the first set: The serving (issue) has been predominately in the first game, and we got a tough call. We had the five missed serves (and the) tough call, so six points–but our numbers were good. We were starting hitting .400, so I like that we didn’t give up, we just stayed with it and we put ourselves in a position to win with a lot of adversity facing us. Then we steadied that with our serving and we know we can be a good serving team. I think Micaya got a nod to her jump serve and is getting more comfortable with it. That is the biggest thing, is getting comfortable with serving in front of fans and serving at a high level. When we do that, it gets teams out of the system.

Courtesy of Oklahoma Athletics:

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Oklahoma volleyball team fell victim to No. 2 Texas in a 3-0 sweep at Gregory Gymnasium on Wednesday night. The loss marked the third in a row for the Sooners as they dropped to 12-10 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12, while the Longhorns improved to 17-2 and 9-0 with a ninth consecutive win.

The straight-sets loss was just the third for Oklahoma this season and came by scores of 25-22, 25-19 and 25-15. The first set was tied as late as 20-20 before Texas took control. The Longhorns gained separation in the second, after being tied 10-10, with an 8-2 run. They then pulled away in the fifth with a 6-0 run after being tied 8-8.

Texas’ Micaya White led all player with 14 kills on a .282 hitting percentage and nine digs. Sooner sophomore outside hitterAlyssa Enneking (League City, Texas) was the only other player in double figures with 11 kills to go with six digs.

Chloe Collins collected 36 assists and eight digs for the winning side, while Claire Hahn led the Longhorn back row with 10 digs. Sophomore setter Audrey Alford (Norman, Okla.) totaled 30 assists for Oklahoma. Defensively, redshirt-sophomore liberoRachel Manriquez (Edmond, Okla.) led the team with 14 digs and redshirt-senior outside hitter Madison Ward (Lawton, Okla.) was second with 13.

The Sooners return to action Saturday afternoon against TCU at noon. Admission is free ahead of the OU football game against Kansas.