Oklahoma concluded the Nike Invitational with a win over Lamar Saturday.
The Sooners swept the Cardinals 25-20, 25-21, and 25-16 for its sixth sweep this season. OU moves to 9-1 on the season, and Lamar remains winless at 0-9.
Coach Santiago Restrepo said he warned his team to be careful with teams like Lamar because they play like they have nothing to lose.
“I think the bottom line is that we don’t want to get caught in the situation we got caught in with Texas-San Antonio,” he said. “I was very specific about talking about, hey, we need to put that aside and know how it felt and to not repeat it. Sometimes you have a tendency to take it easy and not play at your level.”
Redshirt-senior outside hitter Madison Ward said even when playing lesser teams, her team focuses on sticking to the game plan.
“I think the attitude for the most part is just to stay confident in our game and not worry,” she said. “We definitely respect our opponents but know that our game has to be elevated, and we have to focus on what we’re doing and perfect what we can.”
Ward had a double-double with a team-high 12 kills and 11 digs. Senior outside hitter Kimmy Gardiner had ten kills and seven digs while adding four assists.
Senior middle blocker Micaela Spann had nine kills while hitting .467 with five blocks. Sophomore setter Audrey Alford had 38 assists.
OU outhit Lamar .363 to .192, and on the defensive side, had 11.0 blocks to Lamar’s 6.0
Oklahoma is currently in first place in the Big 12 in assists per set, kills per set, and hitting percentage. Ward said she and her teammates pay attention to these rankings.
“I think it’s important for us to pay attention to what’s going on as far as that’s concerned,” she said, “and try and be better after every match and look at the statistics and base our motivation off of that.”
The Sooners will play in the Pac-12 Challenge next weekend, with their first match against University of Southern California Thursday at 10 a.m.
