MAGNOLIA, Arkansas – Central Oklahoma split a pair of matches on the second day of the Mulerider Volleyball Tournament Friday, falling to Texas-Tyler before rebounding with a rout of Arkansas-Monticello.
The No. 12-ranked Bronchos suffered a hard-fought four-set loss to the Patriots, falling 27-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-21, then came back to blitz the Cotton Blossoms 25-12, 25-16, 25-11.
UCO, now 2-1 on the young season, wraps up the season-opening tournament Saturday with a 10 a.m. contest against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
"Tyler has a really talented team and we played well at times, but it just wasn't good enough," head coach Edgar Miraku said. "I was proud of the way we put that behind us and bounced back in our next match."
Sophomore Myla Unterweger slammed down a career-high 15 kills in the loss to the Patriots, while Kate Wells, Caroline Clayton and Georgia Ahlert added 10 apiece. Kaitlyn Parrott dug up 27 Tyler attacks to pace the defense.
The Bronchos rebounded in emphatic fashion against UAM, hitting .330 as a team behind a balanced attack.
Clayton had a team-high nine kills, Unterweger hit .538 with eight kills in 13 attempts with one error and Ahlert had seven kills and one miscue in 11 attempts in hitting .545.
Wells and Brylee Moore chipped in five kills apiece, Riley Roberts dished out 22 assists and Morgan Manning had 12 digs with two service aces.
UCO got off to a fast start in the opening set, zipping to a 5-0 lead behind kills by Unterweger, Ahlert, Moore and Clayton along with an Unterweger ace. It was an 11-3 cushion following Morgan's ace and the Bronchos coasted in from there.
It was more of the same in the second set as UCO jumped on top 5-1 behind a Clayton kill and ace along with a Wells kill. The Blossoms never got closer as the Bronchos took total control of the match.
Taylor Nielsen and Jordyn Baker had aces in helping stake Central to a 4-1 lead in the third set and Unterweger knocked down three kills down the stretch to finish off the rout.
