Holst Powers Sooner Attack to Win

Junior outside hitter Kierra Holst knocked down a season-high 17 kills as the Oklahoma volleyball team earned a 3-1 win over Portland State in the NIKE Invitational at McCasland Field House on Friday night. The Sooners improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 at the invite, while the Vikings fell to 2-7.

Oklahoma took a two sets to none lead behind 25-23 and 25-21 wins in the first two sets. Portland State pulled out a narrow 25-22 win in the third before the Sooners closed the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth.

Holst hit a team-high .455 with 17 kills and just two errors. After just one double-digit kill total in the first five matches she has reached double figures in each of the last four matches.

“I thought overall, all of our hitters did a very good job demanding the ball,” coach Santiago Restrepo said. “Hitting .350 in the game is actually very good. We also committed less errors. I know yesterday we committed way too many errors on our hits and we talked about that. That was very good for our hitting percentage. Our team is extremely talented and in crunch time we finished those points. In the past, previously on the road, we haven't finished those points well.”

Redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Madison Ward finished second on the team with 12 kills and hit .367. As a team, Oklahoma hit .344 and held the Vikings to a .211 attack rate. Sophomore outside hitter Kimmy Gardiner hit .381 and contributed nine kills.

Freshman middle blocker Marion Hazelwood collected a match-high five blocks and added nine kills.

Junior setter Julia Doyle dished out 42 assists and added 15 digs for her first double-double of the season. Junior libero Taylor Migliazzo matched Doyle for the team-high in digs at 15.

For Portland State, Cheyne Corrado tallied a team-best 17 kills and notched 10 digs for the double-double. Katie O'Brien totaled 13 kills and hit a match-high .619.

The Sooners totaled 10 blocks in the match to just two for the Vikings.