Sooner Volleyball Closes Out Home Season Saturday :: Four Sooners About To Hang Up Their Jerseys.

	">Printer-Friendly Format ">E-mail this article Senior setter Jessica Barney will play her final home game as a Sooner Saturday against Colorado at 2 p.m.

Sooner Volleyball Closes Out Home Season Saturday

Four Sooners About To Hang Up Their Jerseys.

Nov. 19, 2002

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NORMAN, Okla.- The Oklahoma (5-20, 3-14 Big 12) volleyball team has four seniors who will hang up their collegiate home jerseys Saturday, Nov. 23 on Senior Day, which is part of the Super Sooner Saturday festivities. The Sooners take on the Colorado Buffaloes (13-13, 7-9 Big 12) in OU's home season finale at 2 p.m. inside the Howard McCasland Field House. Before the Sooners face Colorado, they travel to No. 20 Kansas State (18-6, 14-2 Big 12) Wednesday, Nov. 20 for a 6 p.m. showdown in the Ahean Field House.

"Kansas State is perhaps the best ball control team in the conference," said OU Head Coach Kalani Mahi. "K-State is very efficient on defense. This will put pressure on our offense to be consistent and keep the ball in play."

Kansas State has won 12 consecutive matches and six straight at home. Most recently, K-State traveled to Texas A&M and swept the Aggies Nov. 16. The Wildcats were the first team to sweep Texas A&M at home since 1996. Kansas State is in second place in the Big 12.

On Super Sooner Saturday, OU faces a struggling Colorado squad. After being ranked in the AVCA Top-25 earlier in the season the Buffaloes have struggled and are currently seventh in the Big 12. Colorado has lost four of its last six matches, including being swept by Kansas State.

When OU traveled to Boulder on Oct. 5, the Sooners where sent home with a 3-1 defeat. Senior Megan O'Connell and junior Christina Barlow recorded 13 kills a piece and freshman Jennifer Mosso killed 10 balls.

Jessica Barney, O'Connell, Denise Griffin and Lindsay Hoyt will play their final home match as Sooners Saturday. All four will be honored for the contributions to the volleyball program prior to the match.

"We're going to miss all four dearly," said Mahi. "They all contributed in so many areas to this program. While none of them have been here for four years, they have each left a lasting legacy on Sooner volleyball." Saturday'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

- OU leads the all-time series with Kansas State 40-16-1, but the Wildcats have won seven straight matches.

- Colorado leads the all-time series with OU, 26-10. CU has won 10 straight matchups.

- In the last match with Colorado, OU battled back from a 2-0 deficit to claim the third game before dropping the fourth game.

- The four departing seniors account for 4.22 kills per game, 10.4 assists per game, 7.34 digs per game and 1.05 blocks per game.

- In other words the seniors account for 34 percent of OU's kills, 92 percent of the assists, 55 percent of the digs and 55 percent of the blocks.

- With the recent signing of prepsters Anna Monsen, Laura Tomes and Joanna Schmitt, the Sooners have signed three blue-chippers to fill the five open spots for next season.

- OU's rotation next year could look something like this-
Starters- OH- Christina Barlow, Sheena Werling and Candice Woods.
MB- Jennifer Mosso and Laura Tomes
LB- Tara Birkinbine
S- Leanne Chen
In the regular rotation- Jennifer Adams, Yvette Villanueva, Anna Monsen and Joanna Schmitt.

Player Notes

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

Christina Barlow- Struggled with accuracy last week hitting .065 (15K-12E-61TA) against Texas and Nebraska.

Jessica Barney- Averaged 9.57 digs per match over the last seven matches.

Tara Birkinbine- Led OU with nine digs against Nebraska.

Leanne Chen- Once Barney is gone, Chen will battle incoming freshman Anna Monsen for the setting duties.

Denise Griffin- After recording no kills against Texas, came back with four against Nebraska.

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

Emily Kincaid- Out indefinitely with knee injury.

Megan O'Connell- Had 12 or more kills in three matches prior to Nebraska.

Jennifer Mosso- Leads Sooners with 0.87 blocks per game.

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

Sheena Werling- Came into Texas match after first game and recorded eight kills.

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

A Closer Look At The Kansas State Wildcats
Head Coach Suzie Fritz- The former top assistant coach for Jim McLaughlin from 1997-2000, Fritz was named the program's interim head coach on August 1, 2001, just a day after the resignation of McLaughlin and mere days before the players were to report for start of fall practice. Despite facing the task of replacing two starters and playing one of the nation's toughest schedules, including two 2000 Final Four teams, Fritz posted the highest winning percentage (20-8, .714) by a first-year head coach in school history, surpassing the .686 winning percentage tallied by Ron Spies in 1979. In addition to tallying 20 wins for the third straight season, she helped the program to a school record 15 wins in Big 12 Conference play and a third-place finish. In a conference that sent a NCAA-record eight teams to the "Big Dance", the Wildcats swept the season series from a school-best six conference opponents, including NCAA Tournament teams Baylor, Missouri and Texas.

Wildcats In Big 12 Statistics... Kansas State had several players show up in the latest individual conference statistics... MB Lauren Goehring ranks fifth in hitting percentage and sixth in blocks... MB Lisa Martin is ninth in blocks... L Laura Downey-Wallace leads the Big 12 in digs per game with a 5.37 per game average, while senior OH Jennifer Pollard is tied for eighth with a 3.13 per game average... Pollard is also ninth in aces (0.34) ... Downey-Wallace also ranks third nationally... She also leads the category in league-only matches with a 5.94 average... Goehring is third in blocks (1.26), fourth in hitting percentage (.343), sixth in points (4.62) and tenth in aces (0.32) in Big 12-only matches... OH Cari Jensen is sixth in kills (3.88), while Martin is fifth in blocks (1.23) and seventh in hitting percentage (.339) in league-only matches... S Gabby Guerre is also tenth in hitting (.312).

A Closer Look At The Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado Head Coach Pi'i Aiu- Head Coach Pi'i Aiu has a 98-55 career record as he enters his sixth year as head coach of the Buffs, and he is looking to become the quickest coach in CU history to 100 wins. Actually, he'll be the second, as his predecessor Brad Saindon compiled a 181-112 record in 10 years as head coach. Aiu should top Saindon in the number of matches it took to reach the 100 win mark, and could do so in as early as his 152nd match. Saindon reached the 100 win mark in the third match of the 1993 season, in his 180th match as head coach.

Junior middle blocker Monique Gerlach- Became the fourth Buff in CU volleyball history to reach the 1,000-kill mark by the end of her junior year. She also has a shot to beat Sarah Lodge when it comes to the fastest individual to register 1,000 kills as Lodge tallied 1,209 by the end of her junior year in the 21st match of the season. Gerlach passed the 1,000 kill mark against Texas Tech, Nov. 16, when she smashed 13 against the Lady Raiders.

It's Taskey Time- Left side hitter Kim Taskey is currently having the best year of her collegiate career as a senior. In her first experience this year in a solid starting role, the Portage, Mich., native is currently in the top five in five Colorado categories as she has led the Buffs countless times on the court. Taskey is currently third on the squad in kills with 196, third in kills per game with 2.33, third in assists with 58, third with 16 service aces, and first on the team with 257 digs on the season. She has led the Buffs in kills four times in 2002, she has led in attacks five times, and led CU in the digs category a team-high 11 times. She has paced the Buffs once in the blocks category. Taskey registered a team-high 18 kills to drive the Buffs over Oklahoma on Oct. 5, while she tallied a team-high 22 digs in the K-State effort on Oct. 12, tying her career high.

The End Of The Road

Four Sooners will dress in their crimson and cream jerseys for the final time this Saturday on Senior Day when OU faces Colorado. While none of the four started their collegiate career's in Norman they all claim to be Sooner bred.

Head Coach Kalani Mahi and staff will have the toughest time replacing setter and co-captain Jessica Barney. Barney played in every game last year and has missed just two matches this season. The quarterback of the OU squad has continually improved under Mahi's supervision. This season she has increased her assists per game by nearly half an assist (from 9.30 in 2001 to 9.73 in 2002).

Leaving with Barney is fellow co-captain Lindsay Hoyt. Hoyt was a staple of the Oklahoma lineup last season, when she played primarily as an outside hitter. This year the Grapevine, Texas native has taken on a new role. Hoyt transitioned to the role of serving and defensive specialist with hardly a bump in the road. Hoyt is still one of the most consistent attackers on the squad and has been called upon for a starting spot several times this year.

Megan O'Connell transferred into the OU volleyball program literally hours before the start of fall workouts. O'Connell adjusted quickly, claiming a starting spot as a left side attacker and becoming the main catalyst in the Sooner offensive attack. O'Connell leads the team in kills per game with 2.98 and hitting percentage at .228 (247K-88E-697TA). She began her career at Illinois State with the Mahi's and ended her career as a team leader on the OU squad.

Denise Griffin transferred in from the JUCO volleyball hot-bed of Utah and proved to be one of the Sooners most versatile players in her two years. Griffin, a outside hitter at Eastern Utah, began her career in Norman at the same position, averaging 1.94 kills per game last season. She also averaged 2.24 digs per game, which led to her fill-in role at libero this season. Griffin stepped in for freshman Tara Birkinbine and was consistent at libero. She still leads OU in digs per game at 2.77 despite the fact that she moved back to right side hitter seven matches ago.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Volleyball Closes Out Home Season Saturday :: Four Sooners About To Hang Up Their Jerseys.

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