Here is the staff article about the Saturday VB match for the Sooners against the Iowa State Cyclones.
https://soonersports.com/news/2021/11/6 ... orman.aspx
The Saturday match for the Sooners against Iowa State had another good crowd. I for one was hopeful that the Sooners could 'find' some magic and challenge the Cyclones in the final match of the weekend. Here are some comments in addition to the ones provided in the staff article.
(The Oklahoma volleyball team dropped a four-set match to the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday afternoon, 16-25, 25-22, 25-27, 17-25, inside McCasland Field House.)
Even with the Sooners dropping the match 1 set to 3 to the Cyclones I thought the Sooners played better throughout the match on Saturday than on Friday. The second and third sets were full of great VB action and many exciting points. I thought the Sooners displayed their best play during these two sets on Saturday this weekend.
(Iowa State took set one, 25-16.)
The play was even early in the set and produced a 5-5 tie through the first 10 points. The next 15 points of the game saw Iowa State wining 11 of them to 4 for the Sooners to give the Cyclones a commanding 16-9 lead. During that run of points, Iowa State controlled the game with 11 serves to only 4 for OU. During the remaining 14 points of the set the Sooners limited the Cyclones to only 1 run of more one consecutive serve to make the score 23-16 as the Sooners kept pace with a 7-7 score in that time. The Cyclones finished with two consecutive points on their serve and ending with a service ace to win the set.
In the first set, Iowa State had a +12 kill point total with 3 service aces in 24 serve attempts and 1 block. The Sooners had a +1 kill point total with 1 service ace in 17 serve attempts and 2 blocks. Iowa State won the set behind a strong attack at the net and a dominate service game.
(In the second set, the Sooners jumped out to an 8-4 lead forcing the Cyclones to call timeout. The Sooners extended their lead to 15-11, but the Cyclones fought back to pull within one at the media timeout. Iowa State pulled even at 16-16, but a kill from Davison put the Sooners back in front. A block from Anderson and Birmingham put the Sooners up 22-19 out of a timeout and a block from Anderson and Dunn sealed the set, 25-22.)
The Sooners held a 8-5 lead after a service run of 4 serve by Paige Anderson as the second set began. On the fourth straight service attempt by Iowa State, a successful kill point by Davison of the Sooners gave the lead to the Sooners by one point at 17-16. During the next 9 points the Sooners played well to extend the lead behind two successful kills by Davison to make the score in the 23-19. Iowa State closed to within one point at 23-22 before the Sooners won the set on two consecutive team blocks by P Anderson 2X, K Birmingham and P Dunn.
The difference in set #2 was three-fold. The Sooners matched the Cyclones serves with 24 to 23. The Sooners had 4 more total blocks and the Cyclones had 5 service errors to the 0 for the Sooners.
(The Cyclones rattled off four-straight points to start the third set before the Sooners got on the board on a service error. The Sooners called timeout trailing 8-1, fighting back to get within four at 14-10. A kill from Dunn put OU within one at 16-15. The Cyclones had set point at 24-21, but a block from Anderson kept the Sooners alive. A kill from Davison tied the match at 24-all. Iowa State went up 26-25 and looked to take the set, but a challenge by the Sooners reversed the call making it 25-25. Iowa State ultimately took the set, 27-25.)
The Cyclones held leads of 8-1 and 12-3 to start the 3rd set. The lead was produced by 2 different 4 serve runs by Iowa State that included 2 kills and 2 service aces. The comeback by the Sooners started with a successful kill by Megan Wilson. Two kills later by Wilson made the score 14-9. Wilson then had a service run of 4 serves that ended with the score 15-12. Iowa State regained some control and run the score to 21-16 before a kill by Peyton Dunn on a nice 'push-kill' instead of setting the ball to make the score 21-17. With the score 24-20 for the Cyclones, the Sooners got a kill by Birmingham followed by a block by Anderson to move to 24-22. A Cyclone kill error and a kill by Davison tied the score at 24-all.
After a successful kill by Iowa State to make the score 25-24 there was a very competitive point that ended with a Cyclone player on the floor under the net when the side official called the point dead for safety purposes to protect the player on the floor. At the time the Sooners had just played the ball up on their side of the net on their first contact. What would have followed was have been a clear kill attempt if play had not been stopped. After a long pause and several discussions the decision by the officials was to play the point over from the Iowa State serve. That would have been a big advantage for the Cyclones. Finally the point was challenged by OU due to the player on the floor being under the net on OU's side of the floor. That challenge was upheld and the point was awarded to OU to even the score at 25-all.
Unfortunately, the next to points went to the Cyclones for the 27-25 set win. But as a fan, the determination by the Sooners to get back in the set and take the set to overtime was very appreciated as the Sooners did not quit on the set.
The difference in the set could have been the 3 team service return errors that the Sooners did not handle in the game. The Sooners were playing most of the game with only two defensive players on the floor. At times they attempting to return serves primarily with 2 players. Some miscommunication occurred at times on defense during service returns and on kill defense. I understand the strategy of placing a taller more offensive lineup on the floor for the Sooners as they play most of the time against a taller team on the other side of the net, But the 'back row' players need to stay at home and be defensive first before moving to the attack or offensive portion of the point.
(In set four, the teams were tied early at 5-all. Iowa State took a five-point lead, 13-8, as the Sooners called their first timeout of the set. Iowa State extended its lead to 20-13 and took the set, 25-17.)
Iowa State rebounded in the 4th set to win the match with a dominate set over the Sooners. They totaled a +16 kill attack rate combined with 5 blocks to dominate the net in the set. OU on the other hand had +0 kill total and 0 blocks in the set. Iowa State served 25 times to OU's 17. Over half of the Sooner points were from 5 service errors and 3 receive errors by Iowa State.
The Sooners did play with an improved variety of sets and plays on Saturday night. There were several 'back-row sets' to Davison and Curtis-LittleJim during the play which was a nice thing to see. They seemed to be successful more time than not also. There was effective use of back sets to the right OHs on offense also. The one thing that Iowa State did that OU did not handle well was the middle sets and attack game by Iowa State. OU generally does a good job of blocking outside at the net and most of the time in the center of the net. But on Saturday, they gave up many 'push-kill' points in the middle of the net as well as point-blank kills by hitters. At time there was just no Sooner in the air trying to block in the center of the net. It is tough to be on the back row and try to return powerful shots that are unchallenged on defense. I seemed at times, the desire to be in position for the following attack play for OU took them out of position to defend the current play well. I hope that read as a point for possible improvement rather than just a critical point.
The two closing matches for the Sooners do not get any easier as they travel to Austin to play the Longhorns (#1 in the Big 12) and then host Baylor (#2 in the Big 12) at home to close out the year. The Sooners are now 10-13 overall and 4-8 in the Big 12.