Sooner Volleyball Ready To Spike Texas :: Oklahoma battles Texas and No. 4 Nebraska this week.

	">Printer-Friendly Format ">E-mail this article Senior Jessica Barney has recorded three double-doubles in the last five games.

Sooner Volleyball Ready To Spike Texas

Oklahoma battles Texas and No. 4 Nebraska this week.

Nov. 11, 2002

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Rival Filled Week For Sooners

The Oklahoma volleyball team has one of the toughest weeks of the season in front of them with the Texas Longhorns coming to Norman on Wednesday and the Nebraska Cornhuskers over the weekend. The Longhorns visit the Howard McCasland Field House Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. for Fellowship of Christian Athletes Night. Texas has lost a season-high three consecutive matches coming into the showdown with the Sooners. Those three losses came to Kansas, Colorado and No. 4 Nebraska, none of which OU has beaten this season.

"This is always one of the best matches of the season," said OU Head Coach Kalani Mahi. "Everyone at OU gets up for contests against Texas. We didn't play very well when we traveled down to Austin in Sept., but we are a better team now. This is a chance for our team to redeem themselves."

Leading OU into the mid-week match is senior setter Jessica Barney who has three double-doubles in the last five matches and is averaging just under 11 assists per game during that span. Senior outside hitter Megan O'Connell had back-to-back matches with double digit kills for the first time since Oct. 9, a span of eight matches. Sophomore middle blocker Candice Woods has also been impressive lately, averaging 11.5 kills per match over the last five.

In the first meeting between Texas and OU, the Longhorns won 30-22, 30-22 and 30-19. Christina Barlow and O'Connell registered 11 kills apiece and Lindsay Hoyt dug 10 balls. Texas outhit OU .319 to .103.

Saturday, Oklahoma travels to Lincoln, Neb., for a 7 p.m. showdown with the fourth-ranked Huskers. The Huskers were riding a 26 game winning streak before Texas took a game last Saturday. Despite losing a single game, the Huskers have won 20 straight matches and are 22-1 on the season. Nebraska's only loss came at the hands of USC, which was No. 1 at the time and is currently the second ranked team in the country.

Wednesday's home match will be broadcast live through SoonerSports.com. To view the live video feed, click on the "Streaming Match Video" link on the right side of the volleyball home page.

Oklahoma Notes - Texas leads the all-time series with OU 21-0.

- Nebraska leads the all-time series with OU 56-6.

- OU victory against Iowa State marked its first road win since defeating the Cyclones in Ames in 2000.

- OU is averaging 3.5 blocks per game in the last five matches, well above its season average of 2.0.

- OU is averaging 14.95 digs per game over the last five matches again well above its season average of 13.19.

- OU hit .122 as a team last season, this year the Sooners are hitting .165.

- OU is also averaging more assists and aces per game than 2001.

- Megan O'Connell (3.00), Christina Barlow (2.94), Candice Woods (2.51) and Jennifer Mosso (2.07) all average over two kills per game. Last season OU only had one attacker above two kills per game.

Player Notes

Jennifer Adams - Hasn't played recently due to thumb injury.

Christina Barlow - Recorded a double-double against Iowa State with 11 kills and 13 digs.

Jessica Barney - Produced Third double-double (51 assists, 14 digs) in four Big 12 matches against Iowa State.

Tara Birkinbine - Collected career-highs in digs (16) and assists (3) against Kansas, Oct. 26.

Leanne Chen - Usually subs in for Jessica Barney late in games for blocking purposes.

Denise Griffin - Consistent game against Missouri with seven kills, 11 digs and five block assists.

Lindsay Hoyt - Serving specialist has missed only one match this season.

Emily Kincaid - Out indefinitely with knee injury.

Megan O'Connell - Leading attacker back on track with 25 kills in last two matches.

Jennifer Mosso - Freshman continues impressive play with 22 kills in the last two matches.

Yvette Villanueva - Set new career-high with 17 digs against Iowa State.

Sheena Werling - Started the third game of the Texas Tech match.

Candice Woods - Averaged 11.5 kills over the last four matches.

A Closer Look At Texas
Texas Head Coach Jerrett Elliott: With his first year under his belt, head coach Jerritt Elliott is in his second season at the helm of Texas Volleyball. The Longhorns were 17-14 and 9-11 in Big 12 action last year. In his four seasons as a head coach (two at Southern Calfornia and two at UT), Elliott has complied an impressive overall career record of 75-27 (.735).

Texas Notes- Texas is 18-1 when winning game three; the lone match of the year lost when winning the third game came in the five-game loss to Missouri (10/26) ... On the flip side, Texas is 0-5 when losing the third game ... Two Horns have started every match so far this season (24): outside hitters LaTonya Coates and Mira Topic, while libero Stacy Millichap has played in every game (Liberos are not allowed to start a match or game) ... Setter Abbie Schindler has totaled 1,586 career assists to rank her ninth on the career assist list, 587 assists shy of Lisa Denker, who is eighth all-time at 2,173 ... Right behind Schindler is freshman setter Caron Blotch, who is 10th on the career assist list with 902 assists; Blotch has tallied 20+ assists in every match she has played in this season except against Texas-San Antonio when she left the match early with 12 assists and against Iowa State, leaving due to an injury with 13 assists ... Blotch set a career-high against Baylor (10/2) in the digs category, coming up with 12 digs, a number she tied against Colorado (11/6) ... Blotch had 60 assists and eight kills against Missouri (10/26) for a career-high in those categories ... Middle blocker Kathryn Wilson set a new season-high of 11 kills against Baylor (10/2) in her first double-figure kill tally of the year; Wilson set a season-high for hitting percentage (.667) at Texas Tech on 10 kills on 12 attempts.

A Closer Look At The Nebraska Cornhuskers
Consecutive Regular-Season Conference Victories

The Huskers have won 64 consecutive regular-season Big 12 matches. NU's last regular-season loss to a Big 12 opponent was at Texas Oct. 24, 1999. Nebraska won 10 straight conference matches to close the 1999 season, went 20-0 in 2000 and 2001, and owns a 13-0 Big 12 mark in 2002. Nebraska's 64-match league winning streak ranks fourth in NCAA history.

Consecutive Big 12 Conference Home Victories
NU has won 35 straight Big 12 matches at home, dating back to a five-game loss to Kansas State Sept. 22, 1999. After the KSU loss, Nebraska won its last nine Big 12 home matches, then won 10 in both 2000 and 2001. NU has six league wins at home this season.

Consecutive 25-Win Seasons
With seven regular-season matches remaining, Nebraska needs just four more wins to guarantee its 10th straight 25-win season. Since 1975, the Huskers have amassed 25 wins in a single season 26 times, only failing to do so in 1992 when they went 22-6.

John Cook's Consecutive Big 12 Conference Victories
NU Head Coach John Cook is 53-0 in the Big 12 Conference. Cook is 86-3 in his third season at Nebraska, with his only losses coming to 2001 NCAA champion Stanford, 2001 NCAA runner-up Long Beach State and USC, which was ranked first in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches poll before losing to Stanford last week.

Setter Greichaly Cepero
The senior from Dorado, Puerto Rico, is averaging 1.51 kills per game on a .353 clip, 12.32 assists per game, 2.34 digs per game and 1.15 blocks per game while leading NU to a .311 team hitting percentage. Cepero ranks third all-time at Nebraska with 3,542 assists and is easily the best blocking setter in Nebraska history, Cepero is tied for fifth on the NU career charts with 76 solo blocks. Cepero did not play against OU in the first meeting of the season.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Volleyball Ready To Spike Texas :: Oklahoma battles Texas and No. 4 Nebraska this week.

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