Volleyball Aims For Season Sweep of Colorado

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma volleyball team (11-13, 3-12) has already scored two victories this week and will aim for a third when they travel to Colorado (11-12, 6-10) this Saturday for a 7 p.m. match at the Coors Event Center.

The first Sooner victory was won on the court Wednesday night when they avenged an earlier loss to heated-rival Texas Tech with a 3-2 triumph at the Howard McCasland Field House.

Win number two began on the recruiting trail and arrived on Thursday in the form of National Letter of Intent. The OU program signed juco-transfer Eliane Santos from the College of Souther Idaho. Santos is widely considered one of the best players - if not the best - at the junior college level. The 6-2 middle blocker is expected to immediately step into the Sooner lineup and help sophomore Joanna Schmitt shoulder the offensive load.

Win number three would mean the Sooners were able to sweep the season series from Colorado, a feat they have not accomplished since 1987.

OU defeated Colorado in five games at the House on Oct. 16. It marked the first time that OU had triumphed over the Buffaloes since 1996, a span of 13 matches.

Live Stats | Complete Match Notes In PDF Format

In the first meeting sophomore Joanna Schmitt charged the OU offensive with a 20 kills, 18 dig performance. Freshman setter Julie Chester, who was starting for just the third time in her career, was also stellar with 43 assists and 12 digs.

Colorado's offense is spearheaded by middle blocker Allie Griffin and outside hitter Maragda Santillana. The duo combined for 47 kills in the first meeting and averages a combined 8.43 kills per game.

Setter Ashley Nu'u is a dual threat. She is averaging 12.06 assists per game plus 1.28 kills per game. In the October meeting she had seven kills on 12 attempts and was a thorn in OU's side all evening.

The Sooners will head back into hostile territory next Wednesday when they play No. 20 Kansas State at the Ahearns Field House. First serve form Manhattan is scheduled for 7 p.m.

KEY MATCH UP
OU outside hitter Gabriela Tonon
vs.
Colorado outside hitter Nicole Carr

Stats
Tonon - 2.55 KPG, .156 %, 1.05 DPG
vs.
Carr - 2.42 KPG, .118 %, 2.63 DPG

Breakdown
Colorado standouts Allie Griffin and Maragda Santillana are the focal point of the Colorado offense. They take well over 50 percent of the offensive swings. Their attempts and output are almost guaranteed.

The Sooners were successful in the first meeting because they were able to shut down CU's other attackers and limit them to 14 combined kills. Nicole Carr had six of those kills while hitting at a -.069 clip. If OU can get Carr, who is CU's third offensive option, out of rhythm it will allow them to focus on slowing down Griffin and Santillana.

On the other hand, OU needs to get third option and outside hitter Gabriela Tonon going early. The more effective Tonon is at the net, the better off fellow attackers Joanna Schmitt, Keri Coats and Anna Stadel will be.

Essentially, the match could boil down to which team is able to run the most balanced offense.

RESTREPO LURES JC ALL-AMERICAN
The Oklahoma volleyball team announced the signing of Eliane Santos to a National Letter of Intent on Friday afternoon. Santos is a 6-2 middle blocker for the College of Southern Idaho and will transfer from the junior college ranks to OU in the fall of 2005.

The excitement around the signing of the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil native couldn't be any higher within the program. Santos, who was a second team NJCAA All-American in 2003, is widely considered one of best players at the junior college level. CSI, which has won seven of the last 11 NJCAA national championships, is currently ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA Poll and has a 40-3 record.

Santos, currently a sophomore for CSI, has led the charge for the Golden Eagles. She is averaging 4.07 kills per game while hitting at .375 clip. She also is tallying 2.52 digs, 0.48 aces and 1.35 blocks per game. She leads the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) in kills, while ranking third in hitting percentage, third in blocks, fourth in aces and ninth in digs per game.

“She will come into our program and immediately be one of the best offensive players in the Big 12,” said OU head coach Santiago Restrepo. “She is the type of athlete that can carry a team and immediately elevate their level of play.”

Restrepo continued, “She is a great blocker with a huge vertical. She is an extremely hard hitter and has great floor knowledge. Eliane has all the skills and will add a lot of physicality, power and speed to our team.”

The first time the coaching staff saw her play was against Pac 10 powerhouse Stanford. Santos dominated the match and paced CSI to the spring season victory.

“We knew immediately that we should pursue this athlete,” said OU assistant coach Steve Loeswick, who attended the match against Stanford. “She is a similar athlete to former Hawaii All-American and AVCA Player-of- the-Year Kim Willoughby.”

Santos gave her verbal commitment to the OU program early this fall.

When Santos arrives next fall she will have two remaining years of eligibility. The OU staff expects to plug her in as a starting middle blocker.

The 22-year old is married to Carlos Santos and the couple has a 3-year old daughter Maria.

TAKING ADVANTAGE
Freshman Anna Stadel is making the most of her opportunity to start at middle blocker. An outsider can watch her sky and swing and know that she isn't short on potential, but the high school to college transition is a difficult one. She watched the majority of the first 18 matches of her collegiate career from the bench. Then OU head coach Santiago Restrepo put her into the starting lineup at Iowa State (Oct. 23) and she has showed no signs of relinquishing the duty. Since becoming a starter five matches ago, she is averaging 2.14 kills per game while hitting at a team high clip of .273 and averaging another team high 1.5 blocks per game. Some of Stadel's offensive contributions have to be credited to Julie Chester, who also began starting recently, and worked with Stadel on the second team for the first half of the season.

COMING OUT PARTY
Freshman setter Julie Chester took over the starting reigns 10 matches ago with the daunting challenge of Missouri, No. 5 Nebraska and No. 20 Texas A&M staring her squarely in the face. As expected, the young signal caller had some struggles against three of the Big 12's best teams. Against Colorado on Oct. 16, she had a coming out party with career-highs in every category except solo blocks. She was at it again in the sweep of Iowa State, 42 assists in just three games, and against No. 15 Texas A&M with 49 helpers. The stats don't tell the whole story though. Chester ran the offense with a new found speed and precision, which was a major factor in the upset of Colorado. As for Rachel Jackson, who Chester replaced in the starting lineup, she has become a back row defensive substitution for Gabriela Tonon. It is a role that Jackson flourished in since the change (2.10 DPG). It also adds another dimension to the Sooner defense and offense with a second setter in the lineup.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Volleyball Aims For Season Sweep of Colorado

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