In a close match, every little thing matters.

The OU volleyball team didn’t do enough of the little things Saturday night against Baylor, committing 12 service errors and 26 attack errors to drop its fourth-straight match, 3-1 (28-26, 25-27, 22-25, 22-25).

“We were not able to keep the ball in play when it counted the most,” OU coach Santiago Restrepo said. “At crunch time, we didn’t come through, and we made way too many mistakes on our side.”

Senior right side Suzy Boulavsky led the offense with 19 kills, and senior middle blocker Carlee Roethlisberger had 15 kills with a .652 hitting percentage.

Boulavsky said the team has to learn how to play with a better sense of urgency and learn from the tough time they’re going through.

“We keep saying every match, ‘We need to win this to help with our position for the tournament,’” Boulavsky said. “It’s going to be tough to swing the momentum from where it’s gone.”

Senior setter Brianne Barker played through a hand injury suffered Wednesday against Kansas State and contributed a double-double with 43 assists and 20 digs.

Briana Tolbert led Baylor with 19 kills, and Zoe Adom added 15 for the Bears, which also had five players record double-digit digs.

Tolbert had most of her kills of the slide, an offensive scheme that has given OU fits this season.

“It’s all about us defending and putting the right people in the right place at the right time,” Restrepo said.

Baylor established an early lead against the Sooners in the first set, looking much better than the team that came into the match just 4-8 in conference play. Restrepo stayed true to his word in rotating setters to compensate for Barker’s injury.

The tempo was slow throughout the set with neither team being able to establish a rhythm offensively. Baylor led throughout much of the set, but OU slowly chipped away at the lead, and eventually took the set, 28-26.

Baylor suffered from six service errors in the set while OU three of their own. Neither team hit above .200 in the set.

The second set was much the same as the first with a slow pace of play. Baylor once again opened up a lead over the Sooner at 16-12, but OU battled back to tie the score at 21. Baylor ended up with set point at 24-23 but the Sooners wouldn’t go away. However, the Bears finally put OU away, 27-25.

The third set was highlighted by 15 ties and eight lead changes as the Bears and Sooners exchanged points and leads throughout the set. OU hit just .143 in the set and committed nine attack errors. Those errors are what did Oklahoma in as the Bears took the third set, 25-22, putting the Sooners in danger of losing their fourth-straight match.

“We have a good offense,” Restrepo said. “Teams are digging us a lot more and we are not responding very well to the challenge.”

Baylor continued the slow pace of play throughout the fourth set as well. OU could never get the break through play that they needed to pull in front and Baylor went on to take the set, 25-22, to send OU to their second home loss in as many games.

Roethlisberger said leading by example was the only way to get the rest of the team

“As seniors, you have to lead by example,” Roethlisberger said. “You have to communicate with them and show you have confidence in them. As a team, we have to play together and be confident in each other.”

The Sooners return to action at 6 p.m. Wednesday when they face the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence.