Momentum is a fickle thing in sports. It can appear and disappear in an instant. And for Kansas it did not take long for its momentum to vanish on Wednesday night.

The Jayhawks road woes continued as Kansas (12-13) fell to Oklahoma in four sets (13-25, 13-25, 25-22, 20-25). After a week in which Kansas had consecutive sweeps for the first time in conference play, Oklahoma put the Jayhawks’ streak to an abrupt halt.

“We tried some different combinations,” coach Ray Bechard said. “Everything we tried to do seemed to be a little bit of a struggle.”

It was the same story for the Jayhawks again: poor offense. Kansas failed to hit .200 in any of its sets.

Normally reliable senior middle blocker Savannah Noyes hit for her worst efficiency all season, a negative .066.

Sophomore outside hitters Karina Garlington and Jenna Kaiser combined for 19 kills as Kaiser led the team with 11 kills. Unfortunately, they also combined for 14 errors.

Kansas as a team had 31 hitting errors, tying its season high for errors.

“They (Oklahoma) blocked a few balls,” Bechard said. ”It was mostly our act being out of sync.”

Another familiar folly was the Jayhawks abysmal start. Back-to-back 13-point sets led to a not so surprising 0-2 hole for Kansas.

Kansas had 10 kills with nine errors in set one, then flip-flopped the numbers for an even worse-looking nine kills with 10 errors. On the road especially, Kansas cannot afford to fall behind more than one set.

“You got to show up to work for the first two sets,” Bechard said. “It was good volleyball after the break, but you can’t put yourself in the situation of down 0-2 on the road.”

Kansas won the third set, and held a 15-11 lead in set four before a strong Sooner rally squashed any hopes of a Jayhawk miracle.

The Sooner lead was tough to swallow, but Bechard knows it could have been different with a better start

“It hurts to lose a lead in set four,” Bechard said. “But it was a match mostly decided by getting down 0-2.”

The only Jayhawk to put a respectable match together on the offensive side of the net was senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart. She had 10 kills hitting at a .286 clip, a team high for the match.

Meanwhile the Sooners had several contributors. Junior outside hitter Bridget Laplante led three Sooners who had double-digit kills. Oklahoma did not dominate the match offensively however, hitting just .198 percent.

But the Kansas offense did not bail out its defense with a .081 percentage. Uhart will be the first to say, not many teams win matches hitting below .100.

“Hitting balls out, getting blocked, and hitting too low,” Uhart said of why the offense struggled.

The loss crippled the Jayhawks’ hopes for a quick bump in the Big 12 standings before a tough stretch of matches.

Up next is Nebraska and the team will not have time to mull over this ugly loss. The team will have to keep its spirits up in what will be the biggest home match of the year.

“We need to stay positive and realize it’s not the end of the season,” Uhart said. “Value every day and value every team.”

GARLINGTON NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Before the Jayhawks packed their bags for Norman, Okla., they got to take along one more award.

Sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington was chosen as the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Player of the Week.

A pair of sweeps by Kansas was fueled by Garlington’s stellar playing in last week’s matches against Colorado and Texas Tech. She hit .354 while averaging 5.0 kills per set.

The Denver native is only the second athlete from Kansas to achieve the honor.

— - Edited by Jennifer Torline