SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Defending national champion Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) dealt Oklahoma City University a 25-23, 25-22, 25-17 defeat Tuesday morning in the NAIA volleyball championships at the Tyson Events Center.
The Stars dropped to 0-1 in pool play and 31-4 overall. OCU had won their previous 10 matches.
The top two teams from each pool advance to bracket play starting Friday. Oklahoma City meets 11th-ranked Eastern Oregon at noon Wednesday and No. 21 Central Methodist (Mo.) at 10 a.m. Thursday in the NAIA Championships.
Marijana Bjelobrk supplied OCU with her eighth double-double of the year. Bjelobrk, a junior from Belgrade, Serbia, posted 15 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. Sarah Cruz led sixth-ranked Lindsey Wilson (30-3) with 16 kills.
Lacy Beeler, a sophomore from Jenks, Okla., threw down 10 kills, while Lauren Hermes, a junior from The Colony, Texas, collected 18 digs for the Stars.
OCU's Taylor Horton, a sophomore from Edmond, Okla., accumulated 28 assists, nine digs and one block, and Ella Lofton, a sophomore from Cedar Park, Texas, hammered nine kills.
Isabel Harwell, a freshman from Edmond, Okla., contributed nine digs and the Stars' only ace of the match, while Kenady Bertling, a freshman from Baytown, Texas, turned in six kills and two blocks.
In the final set, Lindsey Wilson came up with a critical 5-0 run. Autumn Proctor assisted on a pair of kills, then on a block with Paulina Sobolewska.
In the second set, the Stars evened the score 22-22. Bertling nailed back-to-back kills, then Bjelobrk followed with another kill. Lindsey Wilson answered with the final three points. Grace Blomstedt and Proctor teamed on a block, Proctor tallied a solo block and Blomstedt had a kill.
In the first set, Oklahoma City rallied from a 10-6 deficit to take a 22-21 edge. Bertling, Bjelobrk and Beeler fired off kills to put OCU on top.