By Jeff Johncox
When Texas A--M needed a big point at the end of a set, Sarah Ammerman was there.
When Oklahoma needed a big point in the same situations, it came up a little short.
The Aggies came into McCasland Field House Wednesday night knowing they needed a victory to keep in the hunt for an NCAA tournament spot. The Sooners were looking to spoil their night, and maybe their season, while still trying to secure their own spot.
Unfortunately for OU and its over 1,000 fans in attendance, Texas A--M took the match in four sets, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25 and 25-23.
"That was a match we really needed to win," OU outside hitter Suzy Boulavsky said. "They needed it more than we did. They needed it to make the NCAAs. If we'd have won, we would have secured our spot."
Boulavsky, setter Brianne Barker and outside hitter Caitlin Higgins kept the Sooners fighting back throughout the match, despite OU's having to come from behind in all but the third set, the one it won.
Texas A--M was up 24-22 in the first set, looking to grab the early lead, when Boulavsky's seventh kill found the floor to bring OU back within one. But that's when Ammerman put home the first of her two set-winning kills.
She put the Aggies up 2-0 at the end of the second set, quieting a Sooner comeback that saw a five-point deficit reduced to two.
Then, in the fourth set, Ammerman had another big kill to make it 20-19 Aggies. It set off a Texas A--M run that led to a 24-21 lead.
The Sooners (18-9, 11-7 Big 12) tried to come back again, closing to within 24-23, but a miscue at the end allowed the final point to drop to the floor.
"They executed the last points better than we did, and that's why they got the win," OU coach Santiago Restrepo said. "It's hard to fight back from behind against any Big 12 opponent."
The third set was undoubtedly OU's best. The Sooners held the lead most of the set, even taking a 23-18 lead before putting it away.
But unforced errors hurt, as did OU's inability to come up with the big hits when it needed them most.
"We struggled in that game," Barker said. "Nothing was going our way. Calls weren't going our way. There was a lot of stuff, but we kept fighting. That's the good thing about this game, you saw how much fight we have and we came back in every set.
"It was a tough way to lose," Barker said. "But it happens. We just have to focus on the next game."
Boulavsky finished with a team-high 21 kills (tying her career record) and 15 digs for her second double-double of the year. Barker finished with five kills, almost all of them in big situations, 22 digs and 43 assists. Higgins added seven kills and 12 digs and Francie Ekwerekwu had 11 kills.
Ammerman led the match with 22 kills.
It doesn't get any easier for the Sooners, who host No. 2 Texas next Wednesday before finishing the regular season Nov. 28 at No. 8 Iowa State.
"Our next two matches are 10 times harder than that one," Boulavsky said. "I feel like we all knew how bad we needed it, we just didn't show up and have that attitude."
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
