Now The Real Season Begins

NORMAN, Okla. -- In the midst of the longest winning streak in eight seasons, the Oklahoma volleyball team (8-0) begins the Big 12 season with hopes of building on the momentum from a perfect non-conference slate. The Sooners begin conference play on the road at Texas Tech (4-2) on Wednesday at 7p.m. OU returns to the Howard McCasland Field House for the conference home opener against Iowa State (6-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.

Based on the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the Sooners have a favorable early conference schedule. OU, which was picked to finish in last place by Big 12 coaches, opens with Texas Tech, who was picked to finish in a tie with Baylor for eighth place among 11 teams. Predicted to finish 10th was Iowa State, who visits Norman on Friday evening. The Sooners will go on the road to visit the aforementioned Baylor squad next Wednesday, Sept. 22. OU's first match against a ranked team will likely come Wednesday, Sept. 29 when No. 16 Kansas State visits the Field House.

Complete Match Notes | Season Stats

Tech is off to a 4-2 start thanks in part to the efforts of outside hitters Kelly Johnson and Desiree Batista. Johnson has fallen off her 2003 Big 12 leading average of 5.18 kills per game to 3.57 this season. The dropoff is partly due to a lackluster hitting percentage of .173. In 2003 Johnson hit .234. Her dropoff is indicative of the entire team, which is hitting at a Big 12 worst .166 clip. Tech is at the bottom of four Big 12 statistical categories.

Batista is second on the squad in kills per game with 2.95 and owns a team best 2.86 digs per. Senior setter Laura Grote is averaging 8.55 assists per game, while fourth-year libero Daneen Grisham is averaging 2.71 digs per.

The one common opponent Tech and OU have faced this season is Texas-Pan American. Tech defeated UTPA in four games, while it took five games for OU. In comparison of stats from the two matches, OU did better in kills, assists, aces and digs, while blocks and hitting percentage were virtually equal.

Tech has a hefty lead in the all-time series at 32-12. OU won the last of two meetings in 2003 to snap an 11-match losing streak to the Lady Raiders.

Friday's opponent, Iowa State, is off to a 6-1 start and begins conference play at home on Wednesday against No. 12 Texas A&M. ISU won both meetings in 2003, although OU has won eight of the last 11 in the series. The Sooners own a 38-14 lead in the all-time series.

RECORD START
Notes on Oklahoma's remarkable start to 2004....

* At 8-0, the 2004 team is off to the best start in program history.

* OU hit above .300 in its first three matches of the season, making them the first team in school history to begin with such a streak.

* They also became the first team since 1997 to top .300 in three straight matches. The 1997 squad accomplished the feat from Sept. 12-13. Ironically the final match of the streak was against UTPA, who OU could not extend the streak against this season. The previous two opponents in 1997 were Montana State and Texas-San Antonio.

* The 1997 and 2004 streaks were separated by 210 matches.

* OU also hit above .300 in four of its first five matches, which marked the first time OU had accomplished that feat since the first five contests of 1999, a span of 144 matches.

* In match No. 5 against Oral Roberts, OU set a rally-scoring record by hitting .402 in a three-game sweep. It marked the first time since Sept. 11, 1999, a span of 144 matches, that OU had surpassed the .400 plateau.

* OU also had four players reach double-digits in kills against ORU, which marked the first time that had happened in a three-game match since Nov. 25, 2000 against Kansas. It marked the first time OU has accomplished the feat since the inception of the rally scoring system (2001). In matches of any length, OU had only had four players with 10+ kills on seven occasions since the 2000 meeting with Kansas. This season OU has had four players with 10 or more kills on three occasions and in three of the last four outings.

* From 2000-2003 OU had only hit above .300 five times. During that four year span, OU hit above .200 on 39 occasions (39 %) with 15 (18%) of those outings coming during Big 12 play. The Sooners have topped the .200 plateau in all seven of eight matches this season.

RPI'ING THE COMPETITION
OU head coach Santiago Restrepo refers to the Rating Percentage Index (RPI) likes it's the bible. He gauges the performances of his team based on their opponents RPI from 2003. In the eyes of Restrepo a win over any opponent rated higher than you in the season prior is of added significance. By those standards, OU's (No. 167 in 2003) win over BYU (No. 32 in 2003) was very impressive and the biggest so far this season. Other notables that OU has taken down this season are Oral Roberts at No. 127 and Mempis at No. 80. The competition over the next two weeks - Texas Tech (124), Iowa State (149), Baylor (151) and Kansas State (7) - were all ranked above OU in last year's index. The RPI accurately averages a team's strength based on win/losses and strength of schedule.

OFF TO GOOD START
Below is a look at how the current Big 12 head coaches began their careers at their respective universities:

Streak	Coach, School	Year
36 Wins	John Cook, Nebraska	2000
10 Wins	Susan Kreklow, Missouri	2000
8 Wins	Santiago Restrepo, OU	2004
8 Wins	Nancy Todd, Texas Tech	2003
6 Wins	Ray Berchard, Kansas	1998
4 Wins	Jerritt Elliott, Texas	1999
2 Wins	Pi'i Aiu, Colorado	1997
1 Win	Linda Crum, Iowa State	2000
1 Loss	Laurie Corbelli, Texas A&M	1993
1 Loss	Jim Barnes, Baylor	2004
2 Losses	Susie Fritz, Kansas State	2001

IN GOOD COMPANY
A look at the career winning percentage of current Big 12 head coaches:

Rank. Name, School	Record	%
1. Susan Kreklow, Missouri	602-149	.802
2. John Cook, Nebraska	290-83	.777
3. Suzie Fritz, Kansas State	76-25	.752
4. Jared Elliott, Texas	112-48	.700
5. Santiago Restrepo, OU	135-72	.652
6. Lauri Corbelli, A&M	363-203	.641
7. Pi'i Aiu, Colorado	139-78	.641
8. Jim Barnes, Baylor	169-101	.626
9. Ray Berchard, Kansas	111-81	.578
10. Nancy Todd, Texas Tech	15-19	.441
11. Linda Crum, Iowa State	37-114	.245

COMPARING STARTS
OU went 8-4 during its nonconference schedule in 2003. It was the best nonconference record for OU since a 9-3 mark in 1996. While OU only plays nine nonconference matches this season, it is off to a great start in the win column and on the stat page. Below is comparison of this season's nonconference stats compared to last years numbers.

	2003	2004
Record	8.4	8-0
Kills Per Game	13.52	16.07
Hitting Percentage	.203	.279
Assists Per Game	12.02	14.40
Aces Per Game	1.74	1.8
Digs Per Game	14.46	14.27
Blocks Per Game	2.87	2.92
Point Differential	+73	+134

-----------------------------	------------	------

Opponent Averages	2003	2004
Kills Per Game	13.7	12.7
Hitting Percentage	.144	.183
Assists Per Game	12.11	11.23
Aces Per Game	2.02	1.5
Digs Per Game	14.89	14.23
Blocks Per Game	1.64	1.7

RECORD BREAKING
OU has broken a number of team and individual rally scoring records (since 2001) already this season. Below is a list of the new records:

INDIVIDUAL
Three Games
Kills	19	Schmitt vs. Oral Roberts, 9/7/04
Hitting Percentage	.652	Adams vs.Providence, 9/3/04
Assists	46	Jackson vs. Oral Roberts, 9/7/04
---------------------------
Four Games
Kills	23	Schmitt vs. Memphis, 9/10/04
Assists	57	Jackson vs. Memphis, 9/10/04
---------------------------
Five Games
Digs	21	Tengram vs. UTPA, 9/4/04
Assists	58	Jackson vs. UTPA, 9/4/04
---------------------------
TEAM
Three Games
Kills (2)	60	vs. Oral Roberts, 9/7/04
Hitting Percentage	.402	vs. Oral Roberts, 9/7/04
Assists (2)	53	vs. Oral Roberts, 9/7/04
*Aces	11	vs. Providence, 9/3/04
---------------------------
Five Games
Hitting Percentage	.279	at BYU, 9/11/04

* Indicates a tied record
(2) Indicates the record has been broken twice this season.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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