FORT WORTH, Texas - The Oklahoma City Volleyball team battled to the end taking Nelson to five sets after falling behind 2-0 in SAC Semifinal as Ruby Kelley finishes her career with one last double-double.

Nelson 3, Oklahoma City 2
Set 1: 25-23 (Nelson)
Set 2: 25-22 (Nelson)
Set 3: 26-24 (OCU)
Set 4: 25-18 (OCU)
Set 5: 15-12 (Nelson)

STAT OF THE MATCH: Oklahoma City edged out Nelson in five of the main six statistical categories posting its second most blocks in a match this season with 15 while also having its second most kills (65) and assists (56) in a contest this year. 

THE RUNDOWN

Set 1
After starting down 5-2, Oklahoma City raced its way back to take the lead on a 6-2 run that saw two kills from Ruby Kelley and finished off with Natalie Adams serving back-to-back aces. Neither side could take their lead by more than three until Nelson reached set point at 24-20. The theme of the contest showed early in the fight that OCU had as three straight point on two more kills by Kelley brought the deficit to just one before the Lions were able to close things out on a kill by Mackenzie Smith. 

Set 2
Nelson jumped out to a big lead early on at 7-2 and continued to maintain its five point lead stretching it out to 11-6. OCU began to claw its way back as freshman Bailey Lowder stepped up in a big way during the match while being able to swat away a Lion attack on solo block before sending down a kill in the 5-1 Stars run that cut the deficit to just a point. Nelson controlled its lead going back up by five at 20-15 but the Stars fight continued with six consecutive points that gave Oklahoma City its first lead of the second set on three blocks by the Stars Maddie Edwards jumped into the mix with a kill of her. Nelson put together its own 5-1 run to close out the set and give Nelson a 2-0 advantage. 

Set 3
The third set began by going and forth in the scoring as OCU took the biggest lead for either side at 13-9 after two kills by Lowder. Nelson took its first lead of the set after rattling off a 10-2 run that included six straight points to take a 19-15 advantage. Trailing 22-20, the Stars turned it on with their resilient fight as Grace Smallwood gave the Stars set point two different times before shutting things down with after an attack error by Bailee Alexander for Nelson to keep the Stars alive with a 26-24 set win. 

Set 4
The fourth set was all about Oklahoma City seeing four point runs on three different occasions. The Stars attack became to much of a force for Nelson with Kelley picking up six kills in the set while Lowder tallied four and Smallwood had three to go along with two aces. OCU's biggest lead stood at 10 points with a 22-12 lead after Rylee Steward added a kill. Nelson began to creep closer in the late going but the deficit was to much to overcome as Oklahoma City forced a final set with a 25-18 victory. 

Set 5
Nelson snatched up the momentum right away leaping out to a 5-0 lead to begin the closing set. The Lions continued to dominate reaching up to a 12-5 looking like they could coast to the match win. The Oklahoma City fight never stopped as Kristen Coventon's group left everything on the floor scratching its way back to just a one point deficit with six consecutive points during a 7-1 run that saw two more aces by Smallwood along with a big time block from Lowder and Steward. In heartbreaking fashion, Nelson went on to score the next two points that closed out the set and send the Lions on to the SAC Title game. 

Game Notes

• Oklahoma City falls to Nelson in the SAC Semifinal for the second year in a row in five sets. 
• OCU tallied 15 blocks in the contest, the most in a five-set match all season and second highest total of the year behind its total of 18 set against USAO back on Oct. 30. 
• Ruby Kelley finished off her stellar OCU career with incredible play one last time seeing her second-highest kill total of the season with a game-high 20 while adding her ninth double-double of the season with 10 digs. Kelley's strong defense was shown by posting her second-best block total of the year with a game-high seven swats. 
• Bailey Lowder gave Stars fans something to look forward to in the future as the freshman outside hitter demolished her previous season-best kill total of 10 by setting a career-high with 19 kills on the day while also posting a career-best five total blocks.
• Freshman Grace Smallwood has herself an outstanding day with her ninth double-double of the year with a season-best 25 digs to go along with 13 kills. 
• Natalie Adams led the day with a season-best 48 assists falling one shy of tying her career-high. Adams finished with 10 digs to secure her eighth double-double of the season while surpassing 30 or more assists for the sixth time this year. 
• Kaitlyn Dunlap wrapped up her career on Friday with 13 digs, the 16th time this year Dunlap has notched a double-digit dig count. Dunlap finishes her career with 1.253 digs, fifth most all-time in program history. 
• Senior Rylee Steward garnered five blocks on the day to finish her career with 333 total blocks, fourth most all-time in program history.  

Up Next
The book is closed on Oklahoma City's 2024 campaign as the team will wait until Wednesday for all-conference awards to be released. 

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