Volleyball Aims For School Record

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma volleyball team has its sights set on finishing the non-conference portion of its schedule with a perfect record. The Sooners will pursue that goal when they face Texas Christian at the Howard McCasland Field House on Wednesday night at 7.

If the Sooners are successful on Wednesday night they would improve to 9-0 against non-Big 12 teams and would complete the first perfect non-conference season in OU volleyball history.

As usual admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children. Wednesday marks Chamber of Commerce night with the first 250 fans receiving free OU calculators. Additionally, fans will valid library cards will be admitted at a discounted rate of $3.

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The last time OU faced a non-conference opponent after the start of the Big 12 season was in 2001. OU entered the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in Springfield, Mo. and lost three matches to Middle Tennessee, Wichita State and Southwest Missouri State.

Wednesday's meeting is the first regular season contest between the two programs, although OU did face and defeat TCU during the spring exhibition season. Oklahoma defeated its only Conference USA opponent, Memphis, in four games during the BYU/Mizuno Classic. TCU has not faced anyone from the Big 12 this season.

TCU enters the match with a 17-8 overall record and 7-3 Conference USA mark. TCU is in fourth place in the 14-team Conference USA race.

The Horns Frogs are led by outside hitter Dominika Szabo and opposite hitter Ellen Rehme. Szabo is hitting .283 while tallied 4.10 kills per game and 2.2 digs per game. Rehme is putting away 4.24 kills per game and collecting 1.53 digs per game.

Freshman Talaya Whitfield anchors the back row with an average of 4.99 digs per.

As a team TCU is averaging 16.2 kills per game, which is 1.82 higher than the OU squad. TCU also has higher overall totals in hitting percentage, aces and digs. The Sooners do hold a clear advantage in blocks, where they average 2.59 per game compared to TCU's 1.4.

The Sooners return to the Big 12 slate on Saturday when they visit Kansas. First serve from Lawrence is slated for 7 p.m. The Jayhawks are 4-8 in Big 12 play, which includes a 3-0 sweep in Norman on Oct. 20.

KEY MATCH UP
OU right side Ellen Rehme

Stats
Coats - 2.95 KPG, .309 %, 0.8 DPG, 0.92 BPG
vs.
Rehme - 4.24 KPG, .256 %, 1.53 DPG, 0.29 BPG

Breakdown
OU senior Keri Coats holds the advantage over TCU senior Kelly Rehme in hitting percentage and blocks. Rehme is putting away 1.2 more kills per game and nearly doubles Coats in digs per game.

The differential in numbers emphasizes the different roles each player fulfills for their team. Coats' first priority in any match is to shut down attackers at the net. The Sooners will see plenty of Rehme, who leads the Horned Frogs in kills and total attempts. Any help Coats can offer will slow the TCU attack and benefit the Sooners.

On the flipside, the stats show that Rehme is fourth in blocks on her team. If the Sooners can get Keri Coats going offensively on the right side, it should open up the lanes for outsides Joanna Schmitt and Sheena Werling, who will likely be facing Rehme at the net most of the night.

PEOPLE WATCHING
OU head coach Santiago Restrepo has been out in the community and around campus selling locals on his Oklahoma volleyball team. The marketing has show up in the seats, or at least in the number that are filled. OU has drawn over 500 fans on four occasions this season and is averaging 634 per match. Last season OU averaged 581 fans but only topped 500 on two occasions. One of those matches was a Howard McCasland Field House record of 3,162, which dramatically spiked the average for the 10 match home season.

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 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 three matches ago, she is averaging 2.6 kills per game while hitting .370 and averaging 1.4 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 eight 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, where she had 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 (2.86 DPG). It also adds another dimension to the Sooner defense and offense with a second setter in the lineup.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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