How it Happened
Set 1: The Bearcats would jump out to an early 4-1 lead after the Sooners came out firing, connecting on the right side kill to start the match. The Sooners responded with a 4-0 swing of their own to take a 5-4 lead early despite a slow start. Both, the Bearcats and Sooners exchanged point for point in a back-and-forth battle after Elissa Alcantara picked her shots on the outside pin, as the senior had four kills for the Bearcats in the opening segment.
The Bearcats responded after siding out on the first play out of the timeout, sparking a four-point run to take a commanding 18-15 forcing a Sooners timeout, the largest lead of the set as the Bearcats looked to build momentum in the back half of the set following kills from Abby Walker and Carly Glendinning. The Bearcats would extend their lead to six, leading 22-16, but the Sooners weren’t shying away from the challenge as the would cut the Bearcats lead to two, before a huge solo block from freshman middle blocker Zeta Washington silenced the Sooners propelling the Bearcats to a 25-22 Set 1 victory.
Set 2: The Bearcats were looking to build off their momentum from set one as they would take an early 6-4 lead over the Sooners following Elissa Alcantara’s fifth kill of the night. The Bearcats extended their lead to five following three straight errors from the Sooners that would force an early timeout as Oklahoma looked to find answers here early. The Bearcats would extend their lead to as much as 6, as Elissa Alcantara continued to be a force to be reckon with for the Bearcats on the left side pin.
The Sooners would cut the Bearcats lead to one, following three straight kills, before Zeta Washington recorded a huge solo block to give the Bearcats a 19-18 lead over the Sooners. The Sooners would take their first lead of the set after a Katelyn Lefler setter dump attempt was blocked by the Sooners. That sparked a 4-0 run to give the Sooners a 24-21 lead late in the set until Zeta Washington hammered home the cross court kill in the back corner to keep this set going as the Bearcats looked to flip the script late. The Sooners would hold on and defeat the Bearcats 25-22 to even the match at 1 following an Alexis Shelton kill.
Set 3- The Bearcats found themselves in an early 3-0 hole, but the Bearcats responded as Walker and Washington hammered home consecutive kills to tie the match at three. The Bearcats would quickly extend their lead to 8-4 as Carly Glendinning would create some problems for the Sooners serve receive defense following consecutive service aces. The Sooners would take a 9-8 lead before Alcantara hammered home her 10th kill of the night off the Sooner freeball. The Sooners would take a 14-11 lead, before being quickly erased following a huge kill by Glendinning on the outside pin to cut the Sooner’s led to one, trailing 14-13.
The Sooners recorded four consecutive kills led by Daleigh Ellison and Alexis Shelton that would force Molly Alvey to call a timeout trailing 18-13. The Sooners just poured it on the Bearcats from there as the Bearcats quickly found themselves in a 21-13 hole until Abby Walker silenced the Sooners momentum. The Sooners would not look back from there as they held on to defeat the Bearcats 25-17 as they took a 2-1 lead heading into the 4th set.
Set 4- The Bearcats would take an early 4-0 lead after Walker recorded her 7th kill of the night sparking a 4-point run out of the gates for the Bearcats as the Bearcats were looking to rally back here at Fifth Third Arena. The Sooners quickly responded with four unanswered of their own as they looked to flip the momentum as Alexis Shelton continued to be the hot hand for the Sooners after recording her 22nd kill of the evening.
The Bearcats went back and forth after Walker’s consecutive kills made this a 13-12 game in favor of the Bearcats midway through the set, in hopes of sparking some momentum to open this one up. Katelyn Lefler would then connect with Ligia Williams after a great adjustment at the net to find and track the ball for Williams to hammer home a huge kill, sparking an 11-point run taking 24-14 lead. Matter in fact, the Bearcats recorded kills on seven of those 11 points as the Sooners defense collapsed and the Bearcats were able to rip the band aid off to force a fifth and final set defeating the Sooners 25-15.
Set 5- The Sooners would take a 5-3 lead forcing a Bearcats timeout in hopes to stop the bleeding early. The Bearcats would do just that, as Zeta Washington sparked the momentum following a huge kill to propel the Bearcats to a 6-5 lead over the Sooners. The Bearcats would finish the set on a 3-0 run to slam the door and defeat the Sooners 16-14 to secure game one of the two game series.
Up Next
The Bearcats will be back in action tomorrow night at 6 pm as they look to complete the series sweep over the Sooners and get back to .500% heading into the final week of the season.
