Ladyjacks Fall to Sooners in Day One of Tulsa Invitational

Thursday, September 12

Tulsa, OK

4:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

5-3,0-0Southland

University of Oklahoma

4-1,0-0SEC

Oklahoma

SFA

Ladyjacks Fall to Sooners in Day One of Tulsa Invitational

9/12/2024 8:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

TULSA, Okla.- The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks Volleyball Team (5-3) fell in day one of the Tulsa Invitational as they were defeated 3-0 by the Oklahoma Sooners (4-1).

The opening set between SFA and Oklahoma saw a back-and-forth first 10 points as the Sooners held a slim 6-4 lead early into the first set. With the Sooners leading 9-5, the Ladyjacks started to find their groove offensively as they would go on a mini 3-0 scoring run to trim the Sooners lead down to 9-8. However, Oklahoma went on a 3-0 run of their own to maintain a four point lead. The Ladyjacks would continue to keep it close with the Sooners in the opening set as they never trailed by more than four points and on numerous occasions came within a pair of points of tying the Sooners. However, the Sooners leading 18-16 late in the first set would go on a 7-0 scoring run to close out the first set as they claimed a 25-16 opening set win.

The second set saw the Ladyjacks and Sooners battle in a back-and-forth affair early on in the first set as the first 10 points were split evenly between the two schools. With the score tied 7-7 early in the second set, the Ladyjacks would go on a 4-1 scoring run thanks to kills from Izabella Ortiz, Harley Krause, and Molly Cravens to take a 10-8 lead over Oklahoma. However, the Sooners responded back instantly with a 5-1 scoring run of their own to take a 13-11 lead. Midway through the second set saw points exchanged fairly evenly between the two teams as neither team led by more than two points with the Sooners holding a slim 19-18 lead late into the set. A 3-0 scoring run by the Sooners had them on the brink of victory leading 22-18, but the Ladyjacks refused to back down as they would go on a 4-1 scoring run of their own to trim the Sooners lead back down to a single point at 23-22. With their backs to the wall trailing 24-22, the Ladyjacks showed incredible grit once again as they rattled off a pair of points thanks to kills from Molly Cravens and Camryn Hill to tie the score at 24 points apiece. Unfortunately, for SFA, the Sooners would score the final two points of the set to claim a 26-24 win over SFA.

The Sooners jumped out in the third set early as they claimed an early 7-3 lead over SFA. With the Sooners leading 9-5, the Ladyjacks once again battled back to tie the Sooners as they embarked on a 6-2 scoring run thanks to a pair of kills from Caroline Kahle to knot the score at 11 points apiece. The two schools would continue to exchange points midway through the third set as the largest lead was just three points by the Sooners with Oklahoma leading 20-15 late in the third set. The Ladyjacks would continue to fight late into the third set, however, the Sooners would not be denied the victory as they would close out the third set on a 5-2 scoring run to claim a 25-18 win over SFA.

Top Players of the Match:

Camryn Hill: Nine kills (led team), 9.5 points (led team), four digs
Izabella Ortiz: Four digs, two digs, six blocks (led team), eight points
Molly Cravens: Seven kills, 7.5 points, .429 hitting percentage (led team)
Cambry Saul: Six assists, one service ace, eight digs (led team)
Jayden Flynn: 18 assists (led team), five digs, recorded 1,500th career assist

The Ladyjacks get set for day two of the Tulsa Invitational tomorrow, September 13th when they get set for a doubleheader day as they open up the day with an early morning matchup against the host Tulsa Hurricanes before finishing the day against the no. 22 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. Start time for the first game against Tulsa is set for 11:00 a.m. CST, while the game against the no. 22 ranked Razorbacks in a rematch of the first round of the NCAA Tournament from last season is set for 4:00 p.m. CST. You can follow all the action with live stats provided on the SFA Athletics Website, as well as follow along on the SFA Volleyball social media accounts for all the game updates.