EDMOND (Sept. 14) – Six players had at least five kills and Central Oklahoma opened Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association play with a drubbing of Newman Thursday night at Hamilton Field House.
The No. 25-ranked Bronchos cruised past the Jets 25-17, 25-11, 25-14 for their sixth straight win, moving to 10-1 on the season. UCO wraps up a three-match homestand Saturday, taking on league rival Pittsburg State at 6 p.m.
"It was a good way to start the conference schedule," said head coach Edgar Miraku, who is now 8-0 against Newman. "We took care of business and protected our home court, which is really important in a league as tough as ours. We'll have to play better Saturday against Pitt State, but we're making good progress."
Setters Lindsey Houran (30 assists) and Riley Roberts (nine) spread the offense around, with Mikiah Perdue's season-high 11 kills leading the balanced attack. Addison Wimmer and Sydney Huck had eight kills apiece, Jenna Karp added seven and Mallorie Koehn and Lari Migliorino chipped in five each.
Karp didn't have an error in 15 attacks to collect her eight kills in hitting .533. UCO hit .324 as a team with 46 total kills and just 13 miscues in 102 attempts, the fourth time this season the Bronchos have hit .300 or better.
Jaedynn Evans was superb in the back court once again, collecting 22 digs, and Roberts added three service aces.
Perdue had six kills and Huck five in the opening set that saw Newman lead most of the early going. Roberts' ace tied it at 9-all, an attack error put UCO on top for good and back-to-back kills by Koehn and Roberts made it 12-9.
Huck and Perdue had three kills apiece the rest of the way and the Bronchos pulled away in claiming the 25-17 win.
The Bronchos never trailed in the second set, zipping to a quick 5-1 lead as Huck had a pair of kills and going up 10-2 on Perdue's smash at the net. Newman got no closer as UCO rolled on to put the Jets on the ropes.
Central closed out its eighth sweep of the season with the easy third-set win, getting six kills from Wimmer and five from Migliorino.
