Sooners' Season Ends in NCAA Second Round

Saturday, December 7

Pittsburgh, PA

6:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

15-11,8-8SEC

Pittsburgh

31-1,19-1ACC

Oklahoma

Pittsburgh

Sooners' Season Ends in NCAA Second Round

December 07, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH – Battling the No. 1 overall seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Oklahoma volleyball team fought hard in a three-set loss to Pittsburgh, 28-26, 25-21, 25-19, Saturday night inside Petersen Events Center.

The Sooners ended the year with a 15-11 record and their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2019. A win in the first round over UTEP was the first tournament win for Oklahoma since 2013.

"Congrats to Pitt, they are a very highly skilled, well coached team," head coach Aaron Mansfield said. "I am super proud of our team and how far we've come in the last two years. There was a lot of joy in the locker room. Obviously, disappointment that our season is over, but a lot of pride in how much we've grown both individually and collectively."

OU kept pace with the No. 1 team in the nation and the defense showed out tallying 17.0 blocks to Pitt's 9.0. The 17.0 blocks by the Sooners were the most allowed by Pitt this season.

"We definitely take pride in our blocking," graduate Kari Geissberger said. "One of the things we've worked a lot on is eye work and I thought today we really worked on that and when our eye work is good and we're communicating on when we're going up, we make a wall. I think we did a really good job of that today."

Geissberger finished the night with an impressive 12 kills and no errors on a .571 clip. Alexis Shelton continued her impressive streak with her 31st-straight match with double-digit kills as the junior tallied 12 on the night. Geissberger and Shelton also led the team with eight and seven blocks, respectively.

Lydia Martyn also tallied eight blocks on the night, while KJ Burgess and Kamille Gibson each notched three.

Payton Chamberlain recorded 30 assists to go with six digs on the night, while Sydney Thompson led the way with eight digs.

Trailing 19-13, the Sooners came all the way back to tie the first set at 24-24. A kill from Gibson gave the Sooners set point at 25-24, but Pitt would tie the match once again. With the match tied at 26-all, Pitt took back-to-back points to take the set, 28-26.

In the second, a 4-0 run by the Sooners gave them the lead at 12-11. Pitt would used a 3-1 run to take a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. A huge solo block from Gibson pulled OU within one at 16-15, but the Panthers took a 21-17 lead after another run. The Sooners fought off a pair of set points, but ultimately dropped the set 25-21.

The teams traded points early in the third set with Pitt holding the 15-13 advantage at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, a 7-1 run by the Panthers made it 21-14. The Sooners pulled within five at 22-17, but couldn't overcome the deficit and dropped the set, 25-19.

FOLLOW THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS
For updates, follow @OU_Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram, or like Oklahoma Volleyball on Facebook.