by Norman, OK –
Sydney Thompson recorded a clutch-time ace and Taylor Preston notched back-to-back kills to clinch an incredible five-set comeback by the Oklahoma volleyball team Thursday night inside McCasland Field House.
Down 2-0 in the match, the Sooners pulled off the reverse sweep of the Wildcats, 15-25, 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 16-14, to pick up their first conference victory of the season.
“It was fun,” head coach Aaron Mansfield said. “It brings me a lot of joy to see how happy they are and how fulfilled they are with getting a victory. Winning never gets old, but when you don’t do it for awhile you start to want it to happen. It happened and it feels really good.”
In the final set with K-State at match-point, Mansfield challenged a net-violation by the Wildcats and won to extend the match and keep OU alive. Thompson served up an ace to tie the match at 14-all and Preston brought it home with back-to-back kills.
Preston recorded 20 kills on the night, including the final four of the game for OU. Alexis Shelton added 19 and Lydia Burts tallied nine.
Payton Chamberlain recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 40 assists and 12 digs to go along with three service aces and two blocks. Callie Kemohah chipped in 20 digs to tie her season high and was just shy of a double-double with nine assists.
Defensively, the Sooners recorded 14.5 blocks, with Hannah Pfiffner matching a career-high 8.0. Burts and Shelton each added five blocks.
After dropping the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-19, the Sooners came out swinging in the third set and capitalized on K-State errors to take the set, 25-15.
K-State had the early advantage in the fourth, taking a 9-5 lead. An ace from Chamberlain capped off a 5-0 run from the Sooners to tie the match at 10-10 and a defensive miscue allowed OU to take the 11-10 lead. Pfiffner came up with a big kill to give OU a 22-19 lead late in the set. Pfiffner and Burts recorded back-to-back kills to secure the fourth set, 25-20.
