Bronchos Lose Thriller

10/20/2009 9:43:23 PM

Zuela Adom

Game Statistics

EDMOND (Oct. 20) – Momentum changes in volleyball happen frequently and often unexpectedly, which is exactly what Central Oklahoma encountered Tuesday night at Hamilton Field House.

The Bronchos appeared in control after winning the first two sets against Newman, but hitting miscues allowed the Lady Jets back in the match and UCO ended up losing a five-set thriller.

Newman prevailed 23-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-16, 20-18 in the nearly two-hour battle to hand the Bronchos their fourth straight loss and drop UCO to 11-14 on the season.

“We looked in pretty good shape after the first two sets, but Newman did a great job of hanging in there and we made some mistakes that turned things around,” UCO coach Jeff Boyland said. “We fought hard in that fifth set, but couldn't quite pull it out.”

It was the sixth five-set loss of the season for the Bronchos, who made 19 of their 30 hitting errors in the third and fourth sets when Newman turned the tide.

UCO never trailed in winning the closely contested first set and led comfortably most of the way in taking the second to seize control, but 10 hitting errors allowed the Lady Jets to stay alive with their third-set victory.

Newman then dominated the fourth set to tie the match and jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the fifth. The Lady Jets led 11-8 when UCO surged back, getting kills from Kristen Wilson, Madi Serratt and Courtney Whitlow in tying the match at 12.

The Bronchos staved off match point at 13-14 on a Zuela Adom kill and survived two more match points with the help of saving digs by Ginger Gowen and Sarah Niles before finally pulling even at 16-all on a Newman error.

Wilson had a pair of kills as UCO took 17-16 and 18-17 leads and twice served to win the match, but the Lady Jets answered back with three straight points to finally end the suspense.

Adom finished with a career-high 25 kills to lead the Bronchos, while Wilson finished with 19 kills and 11 digs. Meaghan Wedberg had a season-high 61 assists and 14 digs, Whitlow added seven kills and four blocks and Gowen had a match-high 24 digs.

UCO returns to Lone Star Conference play Thursday at Texas A&M-Commerce.

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