SANTA CLARA, Calif. – A trio of Sooners notched double-digit kills as the Oklahoma volleyball team swept Santa Clara 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-22) Friday night at the Leavey Center in California.
It was the first-ever matchup between the programs. The Sooners improved to 5-2 on the year, their best seven-match start since 2019.
"This was a good test for our young team on the road," head coach Lindsey Gray-Walton. "With a lot of new faces out on the floor, we showed the grit and made some gutsy plays to get the 3-0 sweep."
OU outhit Santa Clara .227 to .133 in the match and tied the Broncos in kills (38). The defense made the difference as the Sooners posted a season-high 13 blocks and a season-best 24 block assists.
"The sum of the parts showed up again with three pins in double-digit kills, but great defense leads to offense and wins," Gray-Walton noted. "A big shoutout to the middle blockers for racking up 13 blocks and funneling 43 digs for our defense behind them."
Sophomore Megan Wilson made a statement defensively with a career-high six total blocks and recorded her seventh-consecutive match with double-digit kills (11). She had a fast start defensively with three blocks in the first set.
Freshman duo Taylor Preston and Alexis Shelton both posted 10 kills apiece. Preston led the Sooners in hitting percentage (.261) and posted five digs.
Junior middle blocker Kelsey Carrington and sophomore setter Payton Chamberlain made their first appearance in the starting lineup this season. Carrington turned out the best defensive performance for a Sooner in 2022 with a season-high seven blocks. Chamberlain had her best match as a Sooner with 30 assists and registered a career-high five blocks.
Sophomore Callie Kemohah added her seventh consecutive match with double-digit digs, tallying 19. The libero had a strong second set, posting eight digs.
After a slow start, OU took the first set 25-20. The Broncos went on a 5-0 run that allowed them to dominate the first half of the set, 10-6. OU chipped away at Santa Clara's lead and eventually took a 13-12 lead following a pair of kills by Preston. After a Santa Clara timeout and two OU attack errors, the Broncos regained the lead, 16-15. But the Sooners went on a 5-0 run to close out the set. Shelton had an impressive four kills on a .333 clip, while Wilson and Preston each tallied five kills each.
The Sooners dominated the second set, 25-17. OU had another slow start but was able to capitalize on a pair of Broncos' errors to knot the match, 3-3. The Sooners went on a 4-0 run to take a substantial lead, 8-3. At one point of the match, OU had a seven-point lead over Santa Clara, 17-10. A kill from Shelton and a Santa Clara attack error sealed the set victory for the Sooners. Carrington and Chamberlain were dominant defensively with four blocks each, while Shelton and Preston led the Sooners with three kills apiece.
The only time the Sooners had a lead in the beginning of a set was the third and final set of the match. OU took a 5-1 lead before Santa Clara rallied to go up 10-9. In her first appearance of the match, OU graduate student Savannah Davison posted back-to-back kills to tie the score at 14 apiece. In the back-and-forth affair, the Sooners took a 23-21 lead after a timeout. A pair of Santa Clara errors closed the match and gave OU the victory.
"Each match, this team is put into a new situation and has found ways to grow, learn and find a lot of success, all while maintaining the Oklahoma volleyball standard for the way we play the game," Gray-Walton said.
The Sooners are back in action at the Santa Clara Tournament on Saturday, competing against Tulane at 4 p.m. CT inside the Leavey Center.
"We will enjoy this for 12 hours and then our mind is on Tulane for another good road test," Gray-Walton noted.
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