Sooners Notch Pair of Wins on Opening Day

Friday, August 29

Abilene, Texas

1:30 PM

University of Oklahoma

1-0,0-0SEC

Missouri State

0-1,0-0CUSA

Oklahoma

Missouri St.

Photo by: Matt Smith/University of Oklahoma

Sooners Notch Pair of Wins on Opening Day

August 29, 2025 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 OU 3, MSU 1 OU 3, UIW 0

NORMAN – The Oklahoma volleyball team opened the 2025 season with a pair of wins Friday afternoon at the Wildcat Classic in Abilene, Texas.

The first win of the 2025 campaign came in a four-set victory over Missouri State, 25-27, 25-20, 25-19, 25-18. Immediately following, the Sooners swept Incarnate Word 27-25, 25-22, 25-23, to go 2-0 on the day.

Oklahoma 3, Missouri State 1
In the first match of the day the Sooners came just shy of tying the program record for aces in a four-set match (11) with 10 as they defeated Missouri State, 3-1.

Senior transfer Emoni Bush made her presence known in her first match as a Sooner, stuffing the stat sheet with 16 kills, seven digs, four aces and four blocks. Bush hit .406 in the match, one of three Sooners to hit over .400.

Senior Alexis Shelton extended her streak to 32 consecutive matches with double-digit kills as she notched 12 on the day to go with six blocks.

Sophomore Kamille Gibson and senior Kenadie Patterson each hit over .400 on the day, with Gibson tallying nine kills on a .412 clip and Patterson adding six at a .455 clip. Patterson also led the way defensively with six blocks.

Freshman Tekoa Barnes made an immediate impact with seven kills, three aces, two digs and one block in her Sooner debut.

At setter, freshman Avaya Maga and sophomore transfer Harper Hall split time with the pair notching 26 and 20 assists, respectively. Maga also added eight digs, while Hall tallied seven. Libero Dionii Fraga added six assists to go with 13 digs.

MSU took the first set, 27-25. The Bears led 15-14 at the media timeout, but the Sooners reclaimed the lead at 18-17. Using a 3-0 scoring run to tie the match at 23-all, OU pulled ahead with match point at 25-24. MSU ended the set on a 3-0 run to hold the early advantage.

The Sooners claimed set two, 25-20, to tie the match at 1-all. Back-to-back service aces from Bush gave OU an early 11-10 lead and set the tone for OU to take a 15-13 advantage into the media timeout. A 6-0 run had the Sooners up 21-15 before the Bears clawed back to make it 22-18. A kill from Bush gave OU set point and Gibson sealed the win with her fifth kill of the match.

OU took a commanding lead in the third set as an ace from Whitney Wallace made it 18-10. MSU responded with a 4-0 run to cut the lead in half and force an Oklahoma timeout. The Sooners utilized a 3-0 run to extend their lead to 21-16 and capitalized on a service error from the Bears to clinch the set, 24-19.

At the media timeout in set four, OU led 15-12 and pushed their lead to 17-13 off back-to-back kills from Shelton and Patterson. After a kill from Bush and the 10^th ace of the match for Oklahoma from Barnes, MSU called timeout with OU up 21-15. Bush's match-leading 16^th kill gave OU set point and Kelli Jo Burgess secured the victory, 25-18.

Oklahoma 3, Incarnate Word 0
The Sooners got their first sweep of the year as they took down Incarnate Word, 3-0, in the second match of the day.

Bush once again powered the offense with her second 16-kill match. Gibson added nine kills, while Barnes, Burgess and Shelton each tallied six. Shelton also added five digs and three blocks.

Maga recorded 22 assists to go with seven digs, while Hall chipped in 14 assists and three digs. Fraga notched eight digs to lead the team, while Bush and Wallace each tallied seven.

Down six early, OU came all the way back to take the first set 27-25. The Sooners used a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to two at 20-18. After a UIW timeout, the Sooners made it a one-point game off a kill from Burgess. With Jasmine Ellison at the service line, an error by the Cardinals tied the match at 21-all and a kill from Barnes gave OU its first lead. The Sooners fought off two set points before taking a 26-25 lead on an ace from Barnes and clinched the set on a UIW error.

OU took the second set, 25-22. UIW led 15-13 at the media timeout after a back-and-forth start to the set that saw eight ties and five lead changes by the first break. Down 19-16, Bush tallied five kills in a 6-0 run to put the Sooners on top 22-16. UIW fought off set point at 24-21, but a kill from Barnes gave OU the 2-0 advantage.

The Sooners held a commanding 15-8 lead at the media timeout. The Cardinals cut the lead to three at 20-17, forcing an OU timeout and pulled even with the Sooners at 23-all on a 5-0 run. Burgess stopped the Cardinals run with her sixth kill of the night to give OU match point at 24-23. Burgess and Shelton teamed up for the block to clinch the set, 25-23, and the match.