Volleyball Awaits No. 3 Nebraska

The Oklahoma volleyball team (11-15, 3-14 Big 12) will face its eighth ranked opponent of the season when No. 3 Nebraska (24-1, 17-0) comes to Norman for a Saturday match. First serve in the Big 12 battle is set for 7 p.m. from the Howard McCasland Field House. Saturday is also Norman Community Night with the first 200 fans receiving free OU volleyball t-shirts.

The Huskers enter the match with a perfect 17-0 conference mark. They are also riding a 21-match winning streak that dates back to Sept. 10 when they dropped their only match of the season to Florida A&M.

Nebraska's success has come as no surprise to the Big 12. They were picked to win the conference in the Coaches Preseason Poll and have fit the billing. In fact, they can clinch their sixth Big 12 Championship in the last seven years with a win on Saturday night.

Live Stats | Complete Match Notes

Nebraska's rein on the Big 12 is easily explained. The Huskers lead the conference in blocks per game (3.99) and digs (17.34), while ranking no lower than third in every other category except aces. They aren't too shabby in service aces, where they rank fifth with an average of 1.56 per game.

Individually no player has stood out more than Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year Sarah Pavan, who likely has already wrapped up the regular season award. Pavan is averaging 4.46 kills per game (fourth in the Big 12) while hitting at a .317 clip (10th in Big 12).

Sophomore Amanda McCormick leads the Big 12 with 4.54 digs per game, while outside Jennifer Saleaumua is slotted in sixth place at 4.0 per.

Junior Melissa Elmer, who was the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, leads the league with an average of 1.89 blocks per game. Pavan is 10th in blocks per game at 1.17.

Sophomore setter Dani Busboom ranks second in the Big 12 with 13.20 assists per game.

The stats play to the obvious point that Nebraska is a well rounded team and arguably the Big 12's leading contender for the National Championship.
OU enters losers of its last two matches. The Sooners will need a better effort than their first meeting with NU. The Huskers swept OU 17-30, 22-30, 16-30 in Lincoln on Oct. 9.

After the Saturday match, OU has just contests remaining. During Thanksgiving week OU will travel to No. 25 Missouri on Wednesday (11/24) before hosting Baylor on Saturday. Keri Coats and Stephanie Tengram will be honored during the Senior Night activities against Baylor.

KEY MATCH UP
OU setter Julie Chester
vs.
Nebraska setter Dani Busboom

Stats
Chester - 10.0 APG, 1.93 DPG, 0.41 BPG
vs.
Busboom - 13.2 APG, 2.48 DPG, 0.6 BPG

Breakdown
Oklahoma's offense has to be hitting on all cylinders to pull the upset. The offensive starts with Julie Chester.

Chester needs to get outsides Joanna Schmitt and Gabriela Tonon open lanes by running a balanced offense. If she can open up one-on-one opportunities for middles Anna Stadel and Laura Tomes it will make life on the outside easier. Getting opposite Keri Coats going in the second to last home match of her career will also be vital.

The script is simple for Husker Dani Busboom. Stick to it. She and Nebraska have been rolling all season and have no reason to stray from their gameplan.

ACADEMIC HONORS
Six Oklahoma volleyball players were named to the Academic All-Big 12 First and Second Teams on Tuesday afternoon. Sophomores Rachel Jackson and Laura Tomes, along with senior Keri Coats and junior Sheena Werling headlined the first team. Sophomores Anna Monsen and Joanna Schmitt were named to the second team.

Werling, a marketing major, was also a member of the first team last season. The other five student-athletes made the teams during their first year of eligibility for the recognition.

“I am very proud of these student-athletes for excelling in the classroom,” said OU head coach Santiago Restrepo. “It's a testament to their hard work and dedication outside of the gym. They are a wonderful representatives of this program.”

Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the volleyball academic all-league squad consisted of 37 first team members combined with 15 on the second team. First-team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, while the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or in each of the two previous semesters while participating in 60 percent of her team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are eligible.

Last season OU had four student-athletes eligible for the award and all four garnered the academic honor.

RESTREPO LURES JC ALL-AMERICAN
The Oklahoma volleyball team announced the signing of Eliane Santos to a National Letter of Intent on Oct. 12. 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 eight matches ago, she is averaging 2.14 kills per game while hitting at a team high clip of .257 and averaging another team high 1.39 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 13 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. It also adds another dimension to the Sooner defense and offense with a second setter in the lineup.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors