OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City volleyball team swept the Langston Lions for the eighth straight time on Thursday night as the Stars got back on the winning track with its fifth conference win of the season.  

Score   

Oklahoma City 3, Langston 0  

• Oklahoma City (6-6, 5-2 SAC)   
• Langston (1-13, 0-7 SAC)   

Match Summary   

Set 1: 25-14 (OCU)   

Set 2: 25-11 (OCU)   

Set 3: 25-7 (OCU)   

Set 1   

OCU wasted no time getting started on Thursday night's Sooner Athletic Conference matchup with Langston as the Stars got out to an early 5-1 lead off of a kill by Emma Nickerson and a service ace from Kaitlyn Dunlap. Holding on to a 5-3 lead, Oklahoma City turned a two-point lead into a 7-0 run off of three consecutive aces by Ruby Kelley. The Lions made their back to only a three-point deficit before OCU strung together two separate 4-0 runs with kills from Nickerson, Kelley, and Gabrielle Fjeseth. Leading 21-12 the Stars closed out the first set on another kill by Kelley and an ace from freshman Jaiden Downey to give Oklahoma City a win in the first set 25-14.  

Set 2   

Langston scored the first point of the second set taking its first lead of the match only for Oklahoma City to score nine unanswered points led by Nickerson and Kelley who collected a pair of kills each. Throughout the remainder of set two OCU maintained at least a seven-point lead and reached up to as high as 14 on the set winning point after OCU scored four straight to close out the second set on kills by Kelley and Michela De Stefano giving the Stars a 25-11 victory in set two.  

Set 3   

Looking to go for a sweep, the Stars trailed 4-3 early on in the third set. OCU rallied five straight points thanks to kills by Rylee Steward and Marina Kalajdzic pushing the OCU lead to 8-4. OCU refused to stop there, stringing together another run of six straight points to take a 14-5 lead off of two kills by Nickerson and one from Kaladjzic and Steward. Leading 16-7 Oklahoma City closed out the set without allowing another point to go the Lions way as OCU finished off set three with nine consecutive points Nickerson picked up four kills throughout the run and Cassidy Deshong ended the match with an ace to win 25-7. 

Game Notes   

• Oklahoma City picked up 36 kills outlasting Langston's total of 19 in the three-set match. .   
• The Stars tallied 10 service aces making it the third most in a single game and the second most in a three-set match. 
• OCU finished with its second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .394 falling just six points behind its highest total of .400 against Southwestern Christian back on Sept. 8. 
• Emma Nickerson set a new career-high in kills with 14, surpassing her previous total of 10 which came back on Aug. 20, 2022, against Tabor.  
• Nickerson reaches double-digit kills for the first time in 2023 topping this year's total of nine which came in two separate matches versus Benedictine and McPherson.   
• Ruby Kelley came in behind Nickerson with nine kills followed by Michela De Stefano with six.  
• Kelley set a new season-high with four service aces as Cassidy DeShong collected two and Kaitlyn Dunlap had one.  
• Natalie Adams led the match with 27 assists, her second most in a three-set match, while reaching the second most blocks, she has had this season with five.  
• Oklahoma City moves on to 8-0 against Langston in the series history having yet to play more than three sets against the Lions.  

NEXT GAME   

OCU volleyball will begin a five-game home stand starting on Saturday, Sept. 23 as the Stars take on the Tigers of Central Christian University inside Abe Lemons Arena at 1 PM.