🏐 Kansas Drops Five-Set Match At Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla. – Despite winning the first two sets and fighting back in the fifth set, Kansas (1-6) was unable to beat Oklahoma (1-4) at the McCasland Field House.
The Jayhawks were led by Ayah Elnady, who finished with a team-high 15 kills with five aces. The freshman from Cairo, Egypt recorded her second career double-double at Kansas, adding 13 digs to go along with her 15 kills.
Anezka Szabo helped pace the KU attack and recorded 13 kills on 26 attempts with only three errors. Szabo was tied for second on the team with five blocks with Caroline Crawford, while Rachel Langs finished with a team-best six.
The Jayhawks looked to have gained early momentum against Oklahoma, pulling away from the start and finishing with a 12-point advantage in the first set. Elnady recorded three-consecutive aces to close out the set, helping KU edge OU, 25-13.
In the second set, Oklahoma and Kansas battled, and the Sooners held a brief lead at 14-13 before a kill by Crawford tied it up at 14-all. The Jayhawks tallied a kill by Szabo and held the lead until the end of the set, winning the second set, 25-23
The third set proved to be the opposite of the second for Kansas with the Jayhawks fighting back late. KU tied it at 16-all after a kill by Kim Whetstone, but the Sooners pulled away and earned their first set victory.
OU continued its momentum and evened the match at two-sets each after claiming the fourth set.
The Jayhawks found themselves down five points early in the fifth set, but rallied to take a 8-6 lead after an ace by Sara Nielsen. KU held the advantage at 13-11, but OU rattled off the final four points to earn the match victory.
BECHARD QUOTE
On what to take from this match into tomorrow …
They are motivated and playing hard. Our execution needs to catch up with our enthusiasm. We were up two sets and had a chance in the third set, before Oklahoma won it late. In the fourth set, the momentum starts going their way. We were down 5-0 in the fifth set and it would be over for most teams, but this team fought back, played hard and we just needed to make a play at the end. Credit to Oklahoma, they had a kid that led them in kills that wasn’t in the scouting report, and they switched some things up. We will be ready to go tomorrow.
UP NEXT
Kansas plays its second match against Oklahoma Saturday, Oct. 17 at 4 p.m., at McCasland Field House. The match stream is available on SoonerSports.Tv.
