CHICKASHA – Oklahoma City got its first Sooner Athletic Conference win and its second sweep of the season with a 3-0 victory at Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Saturday.
 
The Stars won the gritty match 25-20, 27-25, 25-23.
 
"I'm super proud of the way that we fought through," said OCU Head Coach Kristen Coventon. "We've been struggling to find ways to play consistent. We do a good job of playing hard and well for a set or half of a set so it's great to see them string multiple sets together where we are being disciplined against a good USAO team."
 
The Drovers had entered the match with a .500 SAC record and the Stars set themselves up for a possible run.
 
OCU got out of the gates for a 5-1 lead, highlighted by a match-opening ace by Kate Cleofe. USAO tied the set at 15-15 but the Stars scored five unanswered points, including a kill by Grace Smallwood and a block by Natalie Adams and Maddie Edwards. Erin Mack ended the set with a kill.
 
It was USAO that got out to a 5-1 lead in the second set but that unraveled when the Stars went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. Edwards and Marina Kalajdzic had kills in that spree. The Drovers would take a 25-24 lead but OCU answered with three straight points on kills by Kalajdzic, Mack and Edwards.
 
USAO led by as many as six points in the third set by a 7-2 run saw the Stars seize momentum. Kalajdzic, Mack and Smallwood had kills and Adams added an ace in the key run. The Drovers again led late, 23-22, before OCU finished the match on a 3-0 run, punctuated by a Smallwood kill.
 
Smallwood led OCU with 11 kills and Adams added 31 assists.
 
Edwards had five block assists with Adams adding four. Kaylie Marshall contributed a team-bests 17 digs.
 
Now 4-8 overall and 1-5 in the SAC, the Stars host Southwestern Christian at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.