NORMAN, Okla. — University of Iowa volleyball fell to Oklahoma, 3-0, Saturday afternoon at the McCasland Field House in the Oklahoma Invitational. The Hawkeyes and Sooners both entered the day 2-0 on the weekend defeating Gonzaga and FIU.
Sophomore outside hitter Toyosi Onabanjo led the Hawkeyes in kills (13) with an attack percentage of .476. Redshirt senior Lily Tessier registered 26 assists, while senior Mari Hinkle and sophomore Michelle Urquhart both tallied double-digit digs tallying 11 and 10, respectively. Iowa and Oklahoma blocked evenly in the match with five blocks a piece.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 (OU, 25-18): Scoring went back-and-forth from the start. The Sooners pulled ahead after four straight points that forced an Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes came back out strong and went on their own 4-0 scoring run to take a 13-12 lead. In the set, points came in bunches; OU then went on to score five straight and take back the lead, 17-13. Iowa was able to get a few kills, but in the end the Sooners pulled away to secure the set victory.
SET 2 (OU, 25-21): The Hawkeyes and Sooners were neck-to-neck from the start with several lead changes through the opening of the set. The Sooners went on a 4-0 scoring run to pull away with a 9-6 lead. Timely kills from the Hawkeyes kept them alive, but Oklahoma’s defensive play highlighted by some key blocks didn’t allow Iowa to get back in the set.
SET 3 (OU, 25-21): Iowa started the set strong with back-to-back kills. The Sooners then went on a run of seven-straight points to take a 9-3 lead. Midway through the set Oklahoma had a 17-11 lead and Iowa took a timeout. Iowa chipped away but were never able to get in front. The Hawkeyes came back, closing the score, 23-21 OU, but the Sooners never relinquished the lead. Oklahoma secured the set and the match on a service error by Iowa.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH JIM BARNES
“It’s disappointing for our team. We were excited to play Oklahoma, and we just didn’t consistently play aggressive. We had a good serving game, but we were tentative which surprised me. I thought we would come out too aggressive, but we were a little tentative. Oklahoma played really aggressive and we weren’t able to flip it on them. We learned a lot though; when we play aggressive, we can match up with anyone. We will learn from that lesson. Two and one on the weekend, and we will learn from all three matches.”
NOTABLES
- Toyosi Onabanjo and Delaney McSweeney were named to the Oklahoma Invitational All-Tournament Team.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes travel to Boulder, Colorado, for the PAC-12/Big Ten Challenge where they will face Washington at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday and Colorado at 2:30 p.m. CT on Sunday inside CU Events Center. Both matches will be streamed on PAC-12 Plus.
